Bike Riders are taking too much of the road. They do not obey traffic rules and do not pay the penalty.

Boston bike lanes have made life more difficult for drivers.

Gettin' more like Cambridge every day...

Guess where the pedestrians have to walk when snow accumulates on the sidewalk? In the middle of a traffic lane. I don't agree with the statement of "bike riders do not obey traffic rules" because hey, drivers themselves don't obey traffic rules. Everything goes both ways and you can't blame one party/side just because the roads aren't big enough to share.

"You bike riders don't get the tickets you richly deserve"? Kind of ballsy to group people as such - I haven't rode a bike in years and that was in a different state. But in a pedestrian point of view, it's pretty heinous to know how drivers perceive and treat non-drivers when it comes to attempting to get to Point A to Point B.

I believe that if we do do that that the bikers need to obey the safety laws as a mom and a bus driver try have a tendency to even cut me off while driving my van and have almost gotten into an accident because of them

Theres room for bikes and cars if were polite and play by the rules.

As both a bike rider and motorist, I've never had issues with the other on the streets. The above sound like great recommendations.

The city should do something about the horrific traffic jams day in and day out before they allow bicyclists to take up even more of the road. Stupid,stupid idea!

How many bicyclists would be using those lanes taken away from automobiles over the last few days?

@gone4now. No lanes are being taken away from motorists. According to this article they are just relining roads and adding signs. What are you talking about?

So my thoughts on this...
#1 Until Bikes are penalized for breaking laws the same as vehicle are we should not give lanes to them. I have bikes blow red lights, cut in and out of traffic and 3 bikes travel next to each other forcing me to go head on to go around. And I have never once seen a bike pulled over fo any of these violations. Cars might do the same thing (Blow red lights, speed etc) but at least they are ticketed and pulled over by police, not bikes.

#2 That said I do belive we can have bike friendly transportation in Waltham. Here is my thoughts on each proposal..

South Street: No Bike Lanes. This is not physicly possible the road is not wide enough as a bike lane needs 5 Feet and travel lanes need to be at least 12 Feet only way to do that is widen the road or take a travel lane. I agree with the Sharrows and signs proposal.

Moody Street: NO!!!! Way too narrow, either a travel lane would need to be taken or parking which is out of the question on Moody Street. The only possible option would to widen the road and narrow the sidewalks which would be stupid due to the pedestrian traffic.

Winter Street: Yes but not on the Winter Street Bridge. The new traffic paterns are working fine and accomodating congestion. Taking a lane now would be foolish.

Totten Pond Road: Absolutley. A 5' Bike lane can be accomdated on both sides while still maintaining 1 lane in each direction.

(Continued from Above)

Bacon Street: NO! Absolutley Not! There is no room for bike lanes, the traffic lanes are narrow as is. The road would need to be widened or a travel lane taken which would make it one way. Imagine all that traffic at 5PM on Bacon Street now on Lexington Street. That would cause Gridlock

Beaver Street: Bike accomdating shoulders could be widened but not bike lanes not enough room along most of the stretch. That is a bus route so wide travel lanes would need to be maintained.

Now I am not against Bike Infrastructure. In fact I have a proposal for the city. They should stripe 5' bike lanes on both sides of Forest Street. The road is wide enough for 4 lanes and has plenty of room for bike lanes.

Also I think we need to start working with the state on the Wayside Rail Trail wich would give bikes a nice ride through the city without taking traffic lanes.

Those are my thoughts on this issue.

To propose a different partial solution - why not encourage bicyclists to use alternate, side streets that follow these main roads.

Perhaps Charles/Felton Street and then maybe Grove street in place of main.
Lowell or Adams instead of Moody.
Winter Street and Totten Pond Road seem able to handle bike lanes, though I'm not sure I'd want to ride a bike through the Winter/First/Second ave area.
I'm not sure why they want bike lanes on Bacon and Beaver - they connect major roads without bike lanes and don't have anything of particular interest along them. Maybe Bentley, but they can bike between classes and dorms by staying on campus and avoiding major roads.

These proposals need the why part better articulated.

I'm a driver and a cyclist. I pay excise taxes every year to this city. I may use the roadways in any legal manner I choose, and I want to feel safe doing so. I obey all traffic laws when I'm riding. Until you've been out on two wheels, you really don't have a good sense of how badly people in cars behave. If you don't ride a bike, that's your decision, but I have just as much of a right to the roads as you do so stop your whining. We're here, we're not going anywhere, and we're going to be on the roads with or without our own lanes.

Well said, Mark.