Your Constituents and Residents of Parker Avenue Oppose the Installation of Bike Lanes on Parker Avenue

            After the information sessions with the Town, your constituents, and residents of Parker Avenue who have signed this document hereby put the Town on notice that we vigorously oppose the bike lanes on Parker Avenue; these bike lanes would greatly impact the safety of all residents and directly affect those households on Parker Avenue.  We oppose them for the following reasons:

Bike lanes on Parker Avenue pose significant risks to pedestrians, road users, and bicyclists. 

• Parker Avenue is a main thoroughfare that connects to several highly trafficked areas like Valley Street, Prospect Street, and Boyden Avenue.   This thoroughfare is used daily by many large vehicles, to wit: delivery trucks, tractor-trailers, sanitation trucks, landscaping vehicles, school buses, fire trucks, and police vehicles.  The combination of these heavy and large vehicles, narrower streets, vehicular traffic, and bicycles presents a grave risk of injury to bicyclists and drivers alike while also increasing congestion on Parker Avenue. 
• Particularly in locations such as in front of Columbia High School, where bollards have been proposed, it is unclear how traffic in times of heavy congestion will make way for emergency vehicles without being able to pull to the side of the road.
• Additionally, it is unclear exactly how the Town plans to manage the area in front of Columbia High School. No plan has been disclosed for where drop-off/pick-up will occur, and without one, there will be massive congestion on a vital connecting road. Dropped-off students opening car doors into occupied bike lanes could cause accidents, and the already messy Parker-Valley intersection will only become more hazardous.
• Much of Parker Ave is a long and steep hill, and one that very few bike riders currently navigate. Bike lanes will not change that.   
• Turning vehicles will have limited visibility when turning onto Parker since they must look out for bicyclists on both sides of the road.

Bike lanes on Parker will complicate egress from our driveways, creating a dangerous condition.

• The bike lanes would reduce access to our driveways.  It is already hard enough getting out of our driveways at times due to high traffic volume. With more bikes and narrowed road lanes added to the equation, leaving our driveways will be more complicated, time-consuming, and dangerous for bicyclists and pedestrians.  

Bike lanes on Parker will restrict access to our properties and restrict parking.

• The bike lanes will eliminate the only available parking for our guests, landscapers, and other contractors, as well as complicate deliveries. This, combined with other factors, will make these properties less appealing to those who provide these services, restricting our access to those services.
• Overnight parking will be impacted for these homes, where both residents and visitors may need to park their cars on side streets where vehicles cannot be seen by owners.
•  Access to our properties by Individuals with disabilities will be affected, perhaps in violation of the ADA.

Bike lanes on Parker will greatly complicate weekly/semi-annual/annual pick-ups.

• It is unclear how Parker Avenue residents will be able to put out leaves for Spring and Fall pickup with the proposed bike lanes in place.  The bollards will restrict the pick-up of leaves, removal of snow, garbage, and recycling. Our tax dollars pay for these services, and we are entitled to them in the same manner as provided to other residents.

There are other streets better suited for a Bike Lane

• Parker goes from Irvington Ave. to Maplewood Ave, which offers no specific destination. Why not use Elmwood/Prospect/Oakland? Or Elmwood/Prospect/ N and S Crescent, this route will take more residents to Memorial Park, allowing them to access downtown and the library, and it will also provide access to the Maplewood pool. Imagine being able to bike from lunch downtown or a picnic at Memorial Park to the pool in the summer. Like Parker, they are not an easy uphill on a bike, but they don’t have the heavy traffic that Parker has, making it a safer choice.

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  Bike lanes on Elmwood east of Prospect could also give access to the schools to more children, using Highland Ave to access Clinton Elementary, North Terrace and Kensington Terrace to Columbia via Oakland Rd, and Prospect to Tuscan Elementary.

   

The loss of on-street parking on Parker Avenue will create congestion on adjacent streets.

• Pushing cars, service, and delivery vehicles to the side streets will clog traffic on those streets. Furthermore, vehicles parking on these streets in lieu of Parker Avenue will likely park close to the intersection, which can cause traffic congestion when vehicles are turning. 
• Additionally, removing the ability of drivers to pass cars turning left as well as delivery vehicles, garbage trucks, etc, would make Parker Ave far more congested, even without putting more vehicles on the road.
• Due to parking restrictions, there is limited parking on the side streets. Even with permit parking, the side street residents will experience more congestion and difficulty parking in front of their homes.

The bike lanes on Parker are unnecessary for traffic calming.

• There are many other traffic calming methods that can be implemented without inconveniencing the many for a few.  There are very few bike riders on Parker Avenue due to its narrowness, steepness, and vehicular activities.  At Prospect, there is a steep decline leading to CHS, which leads to faster speeds and dangerous intersections.
• We know the speed on Parker is out of control, but instead of using children on bikes to calm traffic, there are other ways to safely and efficiently control the speed on Parker, while allowing room for cars to pull over when emergency vehicles drive by.

In closing, Township Committee Members, while none of you live on Parker Avenue, we hope you can understand the hardships you’re asking us to endure and our genuine concern for all of our residents.  We hope you will be compassionate enough to really listen to our valid concerns and demands. Then we hope you vote in good conscience with the understanding of how little time was given to the residents of Parker Avenue to consider this proposal.