New Haven Gets The Jump

I’m a competitive type of guy, so this actually pisses me off a little that another CT city is taking the lead on this issue ahead of us. From Design New Haven:

The New Haven Register reports today that the city has received a $10,000 grant to improve bicycle access at Union Station, and also has submitted a federal funding request for $145,000 for on-street dedicated and shared bike lanes connecting Union Station to Downtown New Haven and neighborhoods to the south and north of the city, which themselves have bike routes planned to connect with other sections of New Haven.

So basically New Haven is moving forward to make bike travel to the train station friendlier and increase storage on arrival. Stamford has its own traffic claiming initiative under way where bike lanes are one consideration in a number of techniques designed to slow speeding. While the proposed neighborhood treatment maps include bike lanes, they seem to be mostly left to smaller, secondary roads and excluded from the main thoroughfares that actually connect all the different parts of the city. I suppose bike lanes are just being used to slow traffic by thinning the roads in Stamford. I’d rather see them make a real commitment encouraging actual bike transport as the aim. That doesn’t only have to be people commuting from home to the train station but also beaches, parks, retail centers, etc.