Bradley at State.
If there were a touch of poetic justice to street design in New Haven these days, Bradley Street, home of the Bradley Street Bicycle Co-Op, should have been given its own bike lane as part of the recent repaving operations conducted by the Public Works Department.
Alas!
The street was deemed too narrow to accommodate installing a discrete bike lane, as part of the recent re-milling and repaving of the 19th century lane that meanders from Whitney Avenue to State Street.
That was the word from neighborhood Alder Abby Roth during an update presented via the Zoom teleconferencing app to the East Rock Community Management Team meeting Monday night that drew about 18 participants.
The repaving of Bradley, from Orange to State Street, was part of the city’s annual summer repaving operations, which began on June 10. Click here for a complete listing of the streets in the two-phased operations that total 14 streets in the first phase and nine in the second.
“It was too narrow for a bike lane, but at least sharrows will be put in,” reported Roth. “It will be a small improvement that will be a good thing.”
In a note to the Independent after the meeting Roth also said that “the city is going to paint striped bump-outs at Bradley and Orange and also at Bradley and State, and that will be beneficial.”
Roth’s fellow alder, Charles Decker, expressed some relief that Mechanic Street, second on the list, is also slated to be repaved. “We should have a better Mechanic Street,” he said.
“And once they do that, maybe they can fix the sidewalks,” Decker added.
“I’ve been told by everyone that paving had to happen before sidewalk repairs. Finally!”
Sharrows are okay, but I feel like they should eliminate parking on one side of Bradley and replace it with a contra-flow bike lane that would also give bicyclists the access to go in opposite direction. I really like that idea for Bradley Street.