Invest in protected bike lanes for city

On Oct. 29 of last year, across the street from a “Bicycle Friendly Community” sign, I attended the installation of a White Bike on the southbound side of Old Pecos Trail, near Santa Barbara Drive. The bike honors Nathan Gray, who was hit at around 6:30 a.m. Aug. 1 and died three days later. At the memorial were Gray’s wife and four kids, along with many bicyclists who could have met the same fate.

Old Pecos Trail from Rodeo Road north to Barcelona Road has wide shoulders to bike on. But in an era of driving while texting and other impediments to vehicular control, that is not sufficient to make biking as safe as possible. To protect bicyclists, Santa Fe needs to embrace protected bike lanes.

Candidates for protected bike lanes in Santa Fe are ones with few driveways that can connect the city’s wonderful network of bike trails. They include the aforementioned Old Pecos Trail, the entire length of Siringo Road from Botulph Road to Richards Avenue, Camino Carlos Rey from the Arroyo Chamisa trail to Pueblos Del Sol and Rodeo Road/Airport Road from the wastewater treatment plant east to where the street goes over South St. Francis Drive. While Rodeo Road continues on to Old Pecos Trail from that point, that portion first needs paved shoulders where there are none, a reduction in the speed limit from 50 mph to 35 mph and then protected ballards.

I’ve biked in cities that have installed protected bike lanes — Tucson, Ariz., Austin, Texas, Washington D.C., Buenos Aires — and I can attest to the difference it makes in cost effectively making the bicycle experience much more enhanced. At a time when the mayor and city council are debating whether and how much to invest in bicycle enhancement, as recommended by the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, I urge inclusion of protected bike lanes in the investments.