New Haven Independent

So promised Jim Travers, deputy director of New Haven’s Transportation, Traffic and Parking Department. Thursday night he presented a plan to an aldermanic committee to make the train station and the city itself more bike-friendly.

The City Services and Environmental Committee unanimously authorized Travers’ department to apply and accept funding for a “Union Station Bicycle Interconnect Project.”

“The bikes at Union Station are on top of one another,” Travers said.

His department is seeking $10,000 from the Bikes Belong Foundation, $131,000 in grant funds from the South Central Regional Council of Governments, and $15,000 from the New Haven Parking Authority.

This coincides with the grassroots citywide Safe Streets Campaign. The DeStefano administration, meanwhile, plans next month to launch a “Street Smarts” campaign to inform cyclists and drivers alike about the rules of the road.

The traffic department’s “Bicycle Interconnect” initiative includes an education program and is partly in response to the recent boom in bike riders, such as evident in crowded racks at Union Station.

“There are a lot more bike riders throughout the city, not just downtown,” Travers said.

Over the next year, the department plans to use the $156,000 to create bike lanes connecting Union Station to downtown and the Hill and East Rock neighborhoods as well as the Farmington Canal Greenway. Safety is one of the biggest impediments to beginning riders, said Travers, so it’s important to foster a safe environment for cyclists.

A consultant will be hired to formalize plans and will work in conjunction with Elm City Cycling and various other local groups.

Plans also include an additional 100 bike parking spaces at Union Station. These spaces will encourage both long and short-term storage, with E-lockers (enclosed storage space for bikes) as well as an increase in outdoor rack space. The E-lockers would generate revenue and are designed to accommodate cyclists with expensive bikes.

Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield, who entered the meeting wearing his Bell helmet, suggested also getting “some racks in front of City Hall.”

Back at Union Station Thursday, commuter Todd Kennedy spoke of how every morning he pushes bikes aside to try to make room for his two-wheeler between 7:30 and 8:30. By 8:30 that’s no easy feat. He sees people stretching the cords on their locks to try to make their bikes fit at the end of overcrowded racks. If the city’s transit money pitch becomes reality, he’ll soon have a break.