Taylor Ho Bynum made a pleasant discovery on his 30-mile bike ride from Fair Haven Heights to Cheshire: a freshly painted bike lane to help keep him safe on Howard Avenue.
Click the play arrow to see Bynum make his discovery.
The 36-year-old musician was one of a couple of cyclists found enjoying some freshly painted lines on Friday afternoon.
The city laid the paint Friday morning as part of a $60,000-plus revamping of Howard Avenue. The city is putting in bike lanes on both sides of the street, from Yale-New Haven Hospital all the way down to City Point. Workers will also paint sidewalks and install in-road pedestrian crossing signs. The city has installed new bike racks outside most Howard Avenue businesses, said city traffic director Jim Travers
Travers said that making Howard Avenue more bike-friendly has long been a request of New Haven’s cycling community. His department received a federal Community Development Block Grant to pay for the project.
The new crosswalks will be done in thermoplastic, a process and material that make them more durable. All the new crosswalks should be down within the next couple of weeks, Travers said.
Antonio Jones (pictured), who’s 10, was pedaling his BMX bike southbound in the new bike lane on Howard Avenue Friday afternoon. He said he likes the new addition, which allows him to bike in the street without getting hit.
Bynum was headed north, on a 30-mile loop that through Cheshire. The bike lane reminded him of his times in Holland, where he’s gone to work and found everyone biking in the streets in ubiquitous bike lanes.
“There’s a dedicated bike lane everywhere over there,” he said. “You see grandmothers biking. I have friends who are acoustic bass players who bike to their gigs with their bass strapped to their back, because it’s totally safe. You have your own lane.”
Bynum said he’d like to see a little more separation between the bikes and cars. But even just a line of paint makes a huge difference, he said.
The main benefit of the bike lane is that, by narrowing the driving section of the roadway, speeds are reduced. This makes the roadway significantly safer for drivers (who are less likely to get into a crash), cyclists (who ride farther from car doors), and pedestrians (who have more time to cross). This phenomenon has been studied in hundreds of cities around the world. The more livable public spaces also reduce street crime. Good work on finally painting this bike lane.