Town to Update Overall Bicycle Facilities Plan Before Deciding on Boulevard Bike Lanes

At a meeting of the West Hartford Town Council’s Community Planning and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday morning, Town Manager Rick Ledwith announced that the decision about dedicated bike lanes on Boulevard will await further study.

Boulevard, looking east toward South Main Street, where the parking area currently ends as it nears the intersection. Photo credit: Ronni Newton (we-ha.com file photo)

By Ronni Newton

Residents of a stretch of Boulevard and members of the town’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Commission and Bike West Hartford have been at odds about the creation of dedicated bike lanes that would eliminate on-street parking, and Town Manager Rick Ledwith said Wednesday that a decision will not be made until further study of the town’s overall bicycle facilities plan is completed.

During a meeting of the Town Council’s Community Planning and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday morning, held virtually, Ledwith said that the town is already working with consultant FHI Studios and Toole Design on an update to the town-wide bicycle facilities plan connected to their work as a consultant for the Vision Zero initiative, and will await that report before making a decision about Boulevard, which was recently repaved between Mountain Road and Riggs.

“Certainly hearing that the residents voiced displeasure at losing the parking in front of their houses led us to step back,” Ledwith told We-Ha.com following Wednesday’s meeting.

The residents that have raised the greatest concern are those who live on Boulevard between Woodrow Street and South Main Street. Although that section of Boulevard was not part of the repaving project, residents had received notification earlier this year that when the repaved section to the west was being re-striped following the paving, their section of Boulevard would also be re-striped to include a dedicated bicycle lane on both sides of the roadway. Parking would be permitted only on the north side of the Boulevard between Mountain Road and South Main, but no parking at all would be permitted in front of the first four houses just west of South Main Street due to turn lanes and angle of the intersection.

Resident Kim Piccioli, who lives on the south side of Boulevard just west of South Main Street, submitted a letter to the editor that was the introduction to a change.org petition submitted to town staff and elected officials, which as of Thursday has 66 signatures. The letter cited safety concerns as well as convenience and asked that the town consider all users of the road, and suggested that perhaps a dedicated bike lane on Boulevard could taper off at Woodrow and begin again east of South Main Street.

“It goes without saying that very few homeowners would be happy with the removal of convenient on-street parking in front of their home,” Piccioli wrote in the letter. “Certain sections of roadway, like ours, need extra consideration to balance the safety of not only the residents and their visitors, but all users of this public space. For example, our portion of Boulevard is unique in that it is not flanked by two quiet side streets. If on-street parking is removed, those residing closer to South Main Street would have to walk even farther from their homes if additional parking is needed.

“Those who are elderly, have health and/or mobility issues, or young children will have to deal with the hazards of parking farther away and crossing the Boulevard potentially during times of heavy traffic or inclement weather. Such obstacles can discourage visitors and strain relationships among neighbors as nearby parking spaces become a sought after commodity,” the letter states.

Ledwith said that town staff has looked at a variety of options for the bike lane, but all would pose difficulties.

“Eventually what we want to do is connect the north and the south, the east and the west … but through our work with FHI in updating our bicycle facilities plan … [that will include] how best to design those streets to accommodate all users,” Ledwith said during Wednesday’s meeting. That includes looking at bike routes on other east-west routes such as Farmington Avenue, Asylum Avenue, and Park Road.

The town’s Bike Facilities Plan, published in 2016, has the following stated vision: “To provide a seamless network of on and off-street bicycle routes linking destinations such as schools, parks, shopping and public transportation from one end of West Hartford to the other in an accessible and comfortable manner for people of all ages and abilities.”

The Bike Facilities Plan is connected to West Hartford’s Complete Streets Policy, and expansion of bicycle and pedestrian facilities is part of the town’s 2020-2030 Plan of Conservation and Development.

Boulevard, looking east toward South Main Street from the area of Woodrow Street. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

The town’s Complete Streets Policy, adopted by the Town Council in 2015, is “to enable safe, comfortable and convenient access along and across the Right-of-Way by users of all ages and abilities, including but not limited to, pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, motorists, emergency, freight and commercial vehicle operators.” In accordance with the policy, updates to roadways are made when roads are reconstructed or repaved, and implemented when new roadways are constructed.

A study of the Bike Facilities Plan is already part of the contract with FHI and Toole, Ledwith said, and he expects to bring their recommendations back to CPED for further discussion of which streets make the most sense as bike routes, as well as suggestions regarding the design of bike lanes.

Ledwith said the town is taking a step back from making an immediate decision about Boulevard, and instead will engage the consultant to take a look at not just Boulevard but to “come up with a formal recommendation that addresses all of those key roads.”

In response to a question from CPED member Ben Wenograd, Ledwith said the report will not just address suggested routes, but also the best types of bike lanes –  “what design works for each of those streets separately,” he said.

CPED member Mark Zydanowicz said he hopes that “the emails and the communications we have received for those who would be impacted on Boulevard” are taken into consideration when the consultant issues a report, since people who bought houses there did so with the understanding that they had parking in front of their houses, and Ledwith responded that community engagement would be part of the process.

The timeline for the new Bike Facilities Plan has not been established, Ledwith said, and the consultant’s work on Vision Zero will remain a priority for which he expects an action plan by January 2024.

“We will take the resident concerns, as well as our community concerns for bike lanes, into consideration,” Ledwith told We-Ha.com.

“Ultimately the authority does lie with the town manager’s office as the local traffic authority,” Ledwith told CPED members during the meeting, noting that the final decision would be made in consultation with the Town Council, the town’s Pedestrian & Bicycle Commission (PBC) – which has already been involved in discussions – and the nonprofit advocacy group Bike West Hartford.

In the meantime, Ledwith said that for safety reasons temporary striping will be added to the section of Boulevard that was recently repaved, and the markings will be the same as previous with parking allowed on both sides of the road. Residents in the area will receive notice and the work will take place sometime in the next few weeks, but that should not be interpreted as meaning that the markings will be permanent, he said.

In a phone interview Thursday, Piccioli said she is grateful that the town is being responsive to residents and slowing down the process of implementing bike lanes on Boulevard.

“We’re very happy that the town has heard our concerns and decided to take some time to look at it again,” she said, but noted that there is still some concern among residents of that stretch of Boulevard regarding the community engagement piece of it because of statements about the consultant and the Pedestrian & Bicycle Commission and Bike West Hartford being part of the decision, but no specific mention about resident involvement in the process.

Jim Head, a member of the Board of Bike West Hartford and the author of an Op-Ed promoting safer streets for all that was published on We-Ha.com last week, said said in a phone interview Thursday that the despite the mayor’s statement that the expansion of bike facilities is not being delayed, the organization is disappointed that the town has put a hold on plans for Boulevard that were approved by the PBC and town engineer.

In a message to town leaders posted on the Bike West Hartford website, and sent to the 140-plus signers of a petition supporting the bike lane, the organization wrote that “West Hartford town leaders disappointed us again by failing to take action to improve safe bicycle infrastructure via painted bike lanes on Boulevard,” referencing the June 21 CPED meeting.

“Back in January 2023 the Town quickly approved its Vision Zero policy and called for swift action, including a budget for quick-build projects. But since then the Town seems unwilling to commit anything more than promises of future action. We object to using Vision Zero as an excuse to back away from taking responsibility for safer roads for all and stall even simple interventions like painted bike lanes,” Bike West Hartford’s post states.

Screenshot of graphic on Bike West Hartford message to town leaders on June 22, 2023.

Bike West Hartford states in their posted message that if the town has to do something temporary, it should – in the spirit of Vision Zero which incorporates goals for addressing easy and inexpensive safety measures – be the plan shown above which was previously approved in conjunction with PBC.

“Clearly, the repaved portion of Boulevard needs some type of roadway markings, and currently the Town Engineer seems likely to repaint the road with only center yellow lines on a ‘temporary’ basis,” the post reads. “But that default position is dangerous. Instead, a safer alternative is to paint both traffic lines and bike lanes on a ‘temporary’ basis, according to the design approved by the PBC and the Town Engineer. Later in 2024, if the consultants recommend the removal of temporary painted bike lanes, so be it. But the Town should not be using the Vision Zero process as a cover for its failure to act, which endangers cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers on Boulevard,” Bike West Hartford’s post states.

“West Hartford really is going to be a better and stronger community with the ability to get on a bike in a safe way,” Mayor Shari Cantor said during the CPED meeting, but with the ongoing Vision Zero task force work underway it really makes sense to incorporate that work into the overall plan to make roadways safer.

This is not a pause in adding bike facilities, Cantor said, but rather the process of developing “an in-depth comprehensive plan for all users.”

Stantec, the town’s consultant on the West Hartford Center Infrastructure Master Plan, is also looking at bike lanes on Farmington Avenue as part of their recommendations. That project is at the 30% completion phase and staff members have offered comments, Director of Community Development Duane Martin said Wednesday during the CPED meeting. Once the plan is at 60% design – likely in the fall – there will be further public outreach and conversations with CPED.

The areas highlighted in green were proposed as a bicycle track along Farmington Avenue during a presentation of the West Hartford Center Infrastructure Master Plan by Stantec in February 2023. Photo credit: Ronni Newton (we-ha.com file photo)

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