Yes, we need to petition for that.

An easier solution to removing all that parking might be to keep the existing circulation patterns for traffic and instead convert a street, like Elm Street or Chapel Street, into a two-way "slow street" extending from Westville, through Downtown, and even continuing on into Fair Haven.

A "slow street" is a street where speeds are limited to 15 miles per hour, using traffic calming techniques, chicanes, diverters, and lower posted speed limits. A photo from Alta Planning is attached.

Common in many European and American cities already, and sometimes known as "green streets" or "bicycle boulevards," slow streets have enormous benefits for property owners, residents, children, businesses, and citizens who wish to save money and time by doing their cross-town trips on foot or by bicycle.

The street in front of the Capitol in Hartford is a good example of a "slow street" - speed limits are set at 10 miles per hour. There are also many examples in Greenwich and Darien. Since New Haven has refused to take such measures, so far, I guess that means that the lives of our state legislators and wealthy people are worth more than the lives of our children and working families in New Haven.

The Farmington Canal was a good step, but until the city builds a "slow street" or "green street" that connects some of our neighborhoods to one another, we will continue to be a divided and unhealthy place to live.

Even though most people own bicycles, we will continue to see very few of our citizens choosing to ride them as a main form of transportation, for the simple reason that it isn't comfortable for most people to do so when traffic on the street is moving at more than 15 miles per hour. A small proportion of younger men and a tiny handful of young women will continue to choose to ride their bicycles with higher-speed traffic, but your average 12 year old, or a parent with kids in tow, will not.

Until the city realizes this basic fact about traffic engineering, and aligns its policy to the policies currently being used in cities like New York, Portland, Minneapolis and many others, the money it is spending to promote sustainable transportation is mostly going to waste. The city is focusing on "sharrows" right now - perhaps a good interim step, but I doubt that they will encourage significantly more residents to ride, and they will wear off the roads in a year or two.

I agree with both of these comments. Traveling to downtown by bike from the western side of the city should be made easier, and Frank's proposed loop would be a good way to do it. In general, the City has to do more to make it easier to get around by bike. New Haven's size makes it so accessible by bike, but the streets are not engineered with cyclists in mind. This makes biking in the City dangerous and scary, keeping many from doing it.

www.seeclickfix.com/issues/8658.html is a really excellent discussion of bike lane / bike route planning in New Haven. Dozens of local residents have voted for one there. We need to organize Westville in the same way!

Here is an excellent video on slow streets. This one has been viewed 35,000 times.

I'm not expert enough to suggest the best means of correcting our streets to make them more completely accessible for multi-modes of transportation but I agree that the current configuration doesn't work. I've only recently started riding again and have a close call every time I try to ride downtown. So sign me up as a supporter for a bike route from the west side of town.

I commute by bike from Westville via Edgewood Avenue. I find it much quieter and more pleasant than George, even without the potholes. That said, one-way streets are generally terrible for biking -- not only because of the inconvenience, but because they encourage high-speed driving, and because it's hard to get into the left (i.e., passing) lane to make a turn.

I'm fine riding on Edgewood in the morning when nobody is around, but I don't like riding the stretch around Kensington and Day at later times. There are just too many people hanging around. Also, Edgewood ends before downtown, and to continue I get on Elm, which is really dangerous from York to State.

As a car driver into, out and around the city I too agree that is its very scary and dangerous to bike in the city. May bicyclists ride too early and too late in the day, often without reflective clothing - it seems some think a light collar piece of clothing is all they need. Not so! Also, I am detecting increasing arrogance around intersection and lights by cyclists that can only lead to accidents. As the numbers of cyclists inevitably rise,so will accidents. Not sure what the solutions are but perhaps a combination of improved bike lanes on main ways into the city, police attention to bad bikers, and bike banned streets may help.

Will,

The police began enforcing the bike laws more strictly about a year ago. You can read about it here: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/10/cycling_and_its.php#011927

The many previous posts are extremely helpful in documenting the problem, and great thirst for a solution. I am thinking there is an elephant in the room that needs our attention and ? response from a city official, her name is "lost parking meter revenue." How much would the city 'loose' if they removed parking meters on this proposed one way bike loop: Ellsworth/Ella Grasso -> George -> Church -> Chapel -> Ellsworth/Ella Grasso Blvd" ? And so i counted about 140-150 metered parking spots along this route. Let's say 150 parking spots x 0.75$/hr x 12 hrs (7AM - 7PM) x 6 days/wk (Mon to Sat) x 52 weeks/yr = $421,200. Yes! Wow!

Now clearly, the city does not collect anywhere close to this amount from these metered parking spots; and there is also the "operating costs" that need to factored in ie meter maids who need a salary, benefits, vehicle and gas. Let's assume for our planning purposes the city nets 25% of the gross amount above after all deductions we can think of, this is still a $105,300 problem. I call it problem b/c unless bikers and their supporters are willing to raise funds to cover this "shortfall" in revenue, it is difficult to see how the city can take our petitions seriously. There is little else to say, that has not already been said. I feel we need to make a downpayment on these metered parking spots, literally buy them out and "earn the right" to convert them into a bike lane.

There are at least 100 comments made on seeclickfix, and therefore at least 100 interested individuals who would gain from an improved biking experience in New Haven. If we each commit to fundraise $1000, btwn November 1st 2009 and April 1st 2010 - then we have a very realistic shot at truly changing the biking scene in New Haven. Obviously, the more bikers/bikers spouses/families/students/supporters we bring in, the less we each have to raise to meet the goal.

I am ready to bring in all my pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters to City Hall, and penny by penny, we will win. Once we hit $105,300 - the parking spots are ours, at least for one full year. Imagine a huge glass jar in City Hall getting filled up with spare change from everyone - "please spare change for the Bike Loop". Who's in ? Even better, is someone already doing this ?

the present value of $105,000 annually is probably at least $1mm. better if a grant writer from Yale figured out how to find a couple of million to "buy" the parking meters from the city and some additional funds to make the route cyclist friendly and to come up with something (more cops?) to help the car drivers who still have to contend with those few nuts on wheels that will inevitably be in the pack.

I'm against Frank's proposal to "buy" a bike lane by compensating the City for lost parking meter revenue. I already pay the City enough in property taxes, plus I save the City money by cycling because a bicycle puts less wear and tear on a road than a car. I think we should put our efforts into building support for a safe bike route into downtown from points west and then lobbying the City to do it.

I feel you John.

But parking is big business in New Haven, and I am only
pointing out the obvious conflict of interest. If the city has factored in this parking revenue into their budget, why would they give it up easily for wider bike lanes?

We can join our Fairhaven neighbors in requesting a response from the responsible City Official:

http://www.seeclickfix.com/issues/8658

While it is not great (it is still rough and has some small potholes), the City actually filled in most potholes. This works!!