Bike lanes may soon need Council approval
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Bike lanes may soon need Council approval
Jan Ransom
There’s always room for compromise.
City Council’s Committee on Streets and Services approved a bill sponsored by Councilman Bill Greenlee that would require that the city’s bike lanes be approved by Council.
Under the bill, a bike lane that requires the removal of a parking lane, a travel lane or both must be authorized by City Council. At the end of the hearing Greenlee amended the bill again to allow for an 8-month trial period for pilot bike lanes which was a major sticking point for the Nutter Administration.
An earlier effort to regulate bike lanes languished in Committee last year following intense opposition from bike advocates.
“Council should have the right to establish [a bike lane] by law or not,” Greenlee said, adding that the proposal is in line with other road-related regulations that need Council approval. “I think it’s reasonable.”
Andrew Stober, Chief of Staff for the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities, said the changes to the proposal were helpful, but he added the bill should it become law will be another hurdle when it comes to installing bike lanes.
“The challenge will be fitting it onto Council’s schedule,” he said, adding that the latest bill is something the Administration can stomach.
Bike advocates, although still not thrilled about the proposal said they can now live with it.
“We can live with this and so I have confidence in the popularity and effectiveness of bike lanes, but if they truly don’t work for a particular neighborhood it shouldn’t be there,” said Alex Doty, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition.
The bill will be up for a final vote by Council on June 7.
So now Council members are engineers!!!! Or will they out source it to the streets dept., or bring in a consulting engineer at tax-payers exspence?? Either way sounds like a waste of time, and money!!!— Dadair1- I oppose this bill but it is more sensible than the previous incarnation. Still, if it passes it will mean fewer improvements for cyclists.— stevestevestevesteve
- This micromanagement is absurd and wastes taxpayer dollars.— akelsey
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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