Plans Proceed For Cycletrack, Traffic Lights

Do we have demographic data regarding WHO rides the bikes the most? Is it downtown millennials?? Dixwell seniors?? Goatsville grad students?? Who are they and where are they going with the bikes? I'm curious about who benefits from this program currently and how it can be improved.

With that said, I'm really happy that rolling out bikes to Newhallville was considered a priority over Westville. Most people in Westville already have bikes, or can afford to purchase them.

I like that the program is subsidized for low-income residents, but I'm still upset that advertising for a corporation which we all know peddles junk food was approved and vetted by city officials. And, that we're OK with that, because hey, it makes the program more affordable. I don't think we should make compromises like that. Somehow, as a city, we can simultaneously declare war on obesity and have something like a Food Policy Council, non-profits like New Haven Farms, etc. and then have an unofficial sponsorship from McDonald's and Coors Light. How do these 2 things not oppose one another? We're sending mixed signals to residents, I believe.

All of this is great news, moving the city into the modern transportation era. Maintaining on-street parking occupancy at 85% would be a game changer: you would be very nearly assured a convenient spot for your quick errands and you could save money by parking farther away for longer trips. Electronic "check out" from the Temple garage is brilliant. If the state would approve electronic tolls, we would almost be living in the 21st century.

The proposed schedule to Hartford is nutty, as it is true that Hartford is more of a commuter town, whereas New Haven has more employees who walk/bike/drive to work from within city limits. But a lot of New Haveners also leave the city for jobs. That +40k "net inflow" of jobs masks a huge inflow of employees into the city, partly offset by a substantial outflow of residents traveling to work in other town. Thus, New Haven needs to maintain traffic options both in and out.

Take Back New Haven Doug Hausladen is at it again.

Will some of the one-way streets in the downtown area become two-way?

I thought the construction of the cycle-track along Edgewood was suppose to start sometime last year...

Lastly, when exactly will the second phase of the Downtown Crossing begin with connecting Orange Street?

What ever happened to converting one way streets to two way?! That process started YEARS ago and we haven't heard anything.

I desperately want the newhallville bike share data to prove me wrong but no one there is going to be using the bike share. smart phone, app and credit card? Many don't have bank accounts. I'm skeptical of the entire bike share thing anyway.

Hopefully NHV will not imitate Dallas. See https://www.instagram.com/dallasbikemess/

I am excited for the cycle track to come to my neighborhood. I do, however, fear that it will become a protected dirt bike/ATV highway that will eventually discourage people from using for its intended use out of safety concerns. Does anyone out there have any productive ideas on how to prevent that from happening?

Regarding College Street traffic after theater events - Here's what happens; Patrons of the Shubert (over 1,600) and the College Street Music Hall (close to 2,000) leave the venues, heading to their cars. Most park in the multi-level car park at College and Crown. Everyone starts their engines at the same time and wait and wait and wait to exit through the spiral. Although there are two egress directions, they lead to the same intersection (College and Crown). Traffic backs up on College much more because pedestrians are crossing the exit still trying to get to their cars. Sometimes officers (I'm one of them) will try to pull the more congested side through. Here's why it rarely works for more than a few seconds. The traffic lights are not properly timed on College Street. All that traffic - hundreds of cars - get stuck at the light on George Street. If we were to pull traffic past George Street, they get stuck at the next light and the next until they make it to the highway. If one were to time the lights, you keep it moving, control the speed and most importantly - you minimize the rage and frustration that leads to yellow (and red) light runners and those too pissed off to care about pedestrians and cyclists.

Concerned Neighbor:

You are right that credit cards and smartphones present a barrier to low-income people planning to use the bike share. I don't know that there's an easy way around that--the technology and financial commitment is also what makes the system stable and prevents the bikes from being stolen or destroyed with impunity.

New Haven's system is different than a true 'dockless' system in that the bikes have to be returned to a dedicated drop zone. The drop zone is similar to a station (like those used by CitiBike) but doesn't have the expensive electronics. The drop zone has a few ordinary bike racks set into the ground and is defined by GPS coordinates, which makes it much less expensive. That <i>should</i> keep the bikes from being abandoned all over the place and in my observation, it seems to be working so far.

Very exciting news about the cycle track. Early congratulations to Doug Hausladen, Giovanni Zinn, and the rest of the planners who worked so hard to make this happen.