Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Neighbors oppose plan for bike lanes
$2.1M project would include cutting down more than 100 trees
It sounded like an ideal way to accommodate bicyclists who love to ride along scenic Swinton Avenue in Delray Beach: a $2.1 million plan to repave, add bike lanes and improve drainage on the historic route.
But the plan has infuriated nearby homeowners who are protesting the loss of more than 100 trees and criticizing the narrowing of the two-lane road that runs through the city’s bustling downtown.
“Once those trees go, they are gone forever,” Swinton resident Annette Annechild said. “They would be ripped out for no good reason. And they want to narrow the lane, which is already a tight fit.”
Resident Kae Jonsons agreed.
“Swinton is in desperate need of repaving, but bike lanes on Swinton are redundant,” said Jonsons, noting that nearby Seacrest Boulevard has new bike lanes. “Narrowing in any way is a bad idea.”
The redesign, to be paid for by the federal government, would add shared car-bike lanes in the central section of the route, South Second Street to North Second Street, and 5-foot-wide bike lanes on the northern and southern sections, to 10th Street on the south and Lake Ida Road to the north.
The plan, affecting more than a mile of Swinton, the city’s oldest residential street, crosses through Atlantic Avenue, the city’s entertainment-restaurant district, and is next to Old School Square, a cultural center dating to 1913.
Many of the houses along the route date to the early 20th century, including The Rectory at 14 N. Swinton, the oldest house in Delray Beach, built in 1900. Others have architectural features rarely seen in contemporary homes, such as Palladian windows, a three-part window with an arch in the middle and two smaller windows on the side, and port cocheres, or side entrances that resemble driveup windows.
Of 260 trees along the Swinton route, 110 would be removed and relocated. The plan also calls for the narrowing of the car lanes, from 12 feet to 10 feet, where the bike lanes are installed.
Work is scheduled to begin in 2020 and take a year to complete.
Although the plan is designed to make riding safer for bicyclists by giving them designated lanes, neighbors say the proposal would make the cycling experience more dangerous.
“Adding a 5-foot bike lane opens up the road to cars and the cars will use it as a raceway,” said Jim Chard, a neighbor and board member of Human Powered Delray, which encourages walking and bicycling in the city.
He suggested a combined bike path and sidewalk, which he said is safer.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia said she wants to find a way to tweak the proposal so the city doesn’t lose out on the grant money. She said she hopes to still be able to resurface the street and add bike lanes in some sections.
Maria Formoso, project manager for the state Department of Transportation, which presented the plan to residents at an information session on Tuesday, said the state will examine residents’ comments and research the historic nature of the avenue before coming back with a completed proposal.
“At this moment today, I haven’t been asked to change anything,” she said Thursday.