64 Bike-Lane Teeth Knocked Out

The city should have made these out of steel and cemented them into the ground. Then any person who thinks it's okay to drive that close to the bike lane will learn a lesson really fast.

Question, Do the bikers expect the bike lanes to be plowed?

Question, Do the motorists expect the car lanes to be plowed?

Yet another reason why having two-way bike lanes on one side of a road's lane is a terrible idea.

David, the experience actually argues the other way. There are twice as many delineators when there are bike lanes on both sides, and twice the likelihood of a delineator being knocked down. It takes a while to become comfortable biking on a two-way lane, or driving along side one. But I’ve done both, and am a geezer. It’s not bad.

As the article suggests, it is inevitable that cars and plows will periodically knock down delineators. Had they been metal and cemented to.the ground, the collisions would have damaged the cars involved, if not the pavement. Contemporary plastic car fenders will dent if you look at them funny. 🤓

This NHV obsession with bicycles and bicycle lanes is so misplaced. It speaks entirely to the two distinct populations in the city: the idealistic "yuppie's" and the entrenched realists.

The realists seem to always be losing the battle to the "wouldn't it be nice" crowd. As a realist, I demand fixing the problems that matter before creating more that don't. Bicycle lanes don't matter.

The City needs to install Armadillos between the Delineators to mess with the tires of any jerk trying to run down the Delineators.It works well in other communities who have installed them.

@urbancarpenter - Bike lanes - like this one on Edgewood - provide more benefit than just a safe place to bike. They also function as a "road diet" to slow traffic down on that stretch of Edgewood. Given the New Haven hobby of running red lights and driving to fast on city streets leading to a high number of car-pedestrian fatalities in our city this is a very good thing. Especially here where slowing cars down through the park (both near an elementary school and a highly used playground). As a city resident who is primarily a driver and only occasional bicyclists this seems like a very good use of our city money. Edgewood and Chapel through the park - prior to the bike lane and the peanut - are often driven at very high speeds.

5,000-pound concrete jersey barriers would look nice installed along this section of Edgewood, and wouldn't interfere with drainage or plowing.

I think the used barriers may be almost as cheap as the plastic poles if not cheaper, especially if you consider replacement costs.

Many other cities use these, why can't New Haven?

Plastic delineators are a waste of money and don’t protect bike riders from vehicles. We need metal poles or guardrails to separate bikes from vehicles. Concrete Jersey barriers are too wide, but the other opinions I mentioned won’t be.

If the plastic piping is cheaper than concrete than the city went cheap on its build and now must maintain. Just like the schools cheaper is not always better

" Had they been metal and cemented to.the ground, the collisions would have damaged the cars involved, if not the pavement. Contemporary plastic car fenders will dent if you look at them funny"

I'm sure it'll be a great comfort to me to the cyclist that gets hit after a car ran through a plastic pole. At least the delineator didn't bump the bumper so the car could at best injure a cyclist at worst kill a cyclist with a toddler on the bike seat.

Sad to see this from you Kevin.

Urbancarpenter, according to the Census Bureau, nearly 30% of city households do not have cars. The city needs to ensure that the transportation system works for all of its residents. This includes providing safe options for pedestrians and cyclists. (Most of the cost of the Edgewood project are for new sidewalks and other pedestrian improvements.)

I suspect you have never been to Copenhagen, which is colder than New Haven and where half of all trips are by bike. Here in the U.S., one-third of car trips are less than two miles. Even if you are a 68 year old with a clunker of a bike (me), you are not going to work up a sweat on such trips in an environment such as New Haven. And for trips in or near downtown, it is often quicker to bike than drive.

Can someone explain why the four, oddly tall, speed humps on Yale Avenue extend through the entire bike lane? (Asking for my testicles.)

I don't understand the need to put the bike lanes on Edgewood Avenue. If you want to provide safe space for bikers, choose less-traveled routes (there are plenty throughout Westville). But, if as I suspect, the bike enthusiasts want bike lanes plus a way to slow down drivers, then the main avenues are the best place. Problem is, that the drivers aren't slowing down (I know because I walk this route every day), and there is no real protection for the bikers. It's a lose-lose outcome.

And just wait until the bike route is extended from Winthrop to Howe; then the real mess will begin.

BTW Paul - The placement of the delineators appears to be random. I asked Mr. Zinn how the city decides where to place them..

Good Day Mr Zinn - First, thank you for providing excellent service to our community. I am reaching out w/r/t the plastic delineators used to separate bike lanes from traffic. I notice we have the delineators on Edgewood btw Central and Forest, but none on Yale Ave. And we have them on the north side of Edgewood btw Winthrop and Ella T heading West, but none on the south side of Edgewood heading east. Some are yellow, others are white. I'm trying to understand how the City determines where to place the delineators and am hoping you can share the guidelines.

Here is Mr. Zinn's response:
Delineators are installed and maintained by Transportation Traffic and Parking. I recommend you reach out to them for the information below.

The city jumps on board with SPECIFIC peoples requests such as the bike lanes and protectors without any for thought repeatedly. First of all PEOPLE realize this we live in a state where we have four seasons. Snow can happen in 3 of those 4 ..Snow from Oct to April. Snow plows have a responsibility to clear the road that is not something done well under regular circumstances now with such obstacles and impediments. We saw this on Dixwell Ave but it wasnt important to particular people because it wasn't their neighborhood and the projects failure wasn't noted. We are spending millions of dollars on PET or in big politics PORK projects when we have REAL issues.HEALTH HOUSING EDUCATION LAW ENFORCEMENT FIRE DUTIES.
Public Works is already UNDER FUNDED and staffed but we add chaos to their assignments. Who clears the bike lane or is it only important when the weather is nice and people want to be GREEN? Trucks were designed to push snow to the side which is right into the pillions. The money that was used, those tax dollars have not been prioritized for the betterment of the whole city or those most in need but to a select group for political gain. Many streets are already congested with traffic and yet we take more square footage and cause more congestion. Look at what has been done with Ella Grasso BLVD. IT has always been nightmarish to travel during the work day and now its worse than ever imaginable and it appears that who ever designed it had a group of third grade stem students design and implement their untested traffic calming and safety measures. Wasted money is all it was.

Euro, I bike more than I drive in town and have been hit by a car while biking. The steel posts LitleRat describes would not protect a cyclist in the situation you describe. A Jersey barrier or steel guardrail would, but that is not what LittleRat suggested.

Kevin McCarthy, I always appreciate your perspective and while I often wish this were Copenhagen, it is not. We are not an organically established European city. We are not a monoculture. Ironically, the population that does not have a car often can not afford the vendors within walking distance - the farmer's markets and the "organic" grocers are for those who chose to walk.

Why New Haven fails to recognize the necessity for vehicular travel is beyond me. What will happen is that the entire city will be gentrified and the only people here will be the farmer's market folks. Then we can all ride bikes and sip $9 lattes while we virtue signal in our echo chamber of perceived moral superiority. Until then, most of us still need to drive to work.