Once downtown Keene is outfitted with protected bike lanes, people using them will be limited to nonmotorized vehicles, and to speeds no faster than 8 miles per hour.
However, as City Councilor Andrew Madison pointed out shortly before he and his peers recently adopted the rules, 8-7, the vote does not close the door on more tweaks; with the new year coming up soon, councilors could propose changing the ordinance then.
The new rules apply only to the planned protected bike lanes in the downtown core. The lanes will be added through the upcoming downtown infrastructure project, for which the city plans to break ground next spring.
Though the project’s primary purpose is to replace old underground infrastructure, several above-ground modifications are planned. These elements, which include updates to Central Square and flashing crosswalks, have stirred significant controversy.
The protected bike lanes have proven to be one of the most contentious adds, with naysayers suggesting they jeopardize pedestrian safety and advocates pointing out that they support a more cost-effective and greener mode of transportation than cars.
At the Nov. 6 meeting, Councilor Bobby Williams spoke passionately about his qualms with the speed limit and motor restrictions.
“There’s dividers between the sidewalk and the bike lane. Pedestrians should not be wandering through the bike lane. They have a responsibility to be careful here, too,” he said.
“I’m really concerned about the electric motor bit … it’s trying to address a problem that we don’t really know we have, and it’s doing it in a very sloppy, sloppy way.”
He worries that this part of the rule will keep people who use motorized bikes to get groceries or with children riding along from being able to use the lanes.
“What I would recommend is that people vote no against this, and we can bring it back again based on the [Bicycle Pedestrian Path Advisory Committee’s] recommendations,” he said. “And I would say, let’s do that in the next Council. So let’s kill it now. Try again.”
Williams voted “no” on the ordinance.
But Councilor Ed Haas, who is a member of the BPPAC committee, was in support of reducing the speed limit from 10 to 8 mph because he said it is an unusual number that will draw riders’ attention unlike the 10 or 15 mph limits he said people are used to seeing.
“I’m pleased with that. I was against this up until that point, but there’s education that needs to be done,” he said. He voted “yes.”
Councilor Laura Tobin, who also voted “yes,” said the conclusion to the bike lane rules is a middle ground.
“I understand the different perspectives that some people feel like you should be able to go any speed on these. Some feel like we shouldn’t have bike lanes at all, and I think this is where we landed, somewhere in the middle,” she said. “I imagine this evolving over time based on … as we get the bike lanes and as people start riding them, we’re going to see flaws in the guidelines we set out, and then we will come back and we will address them.”
A central part of the deliberations over the past few months has been whether or not the rules are enforceable. At the beginning of the Nov. 6 discussion, Councilor Mitch Greenwald acknowledged that nobody will be standing on the sidewalk with a radar gun. Councilors have previously argued, though, that the guidelines are still necessary.
However, the ordinance’s lack of enforceability has been a key concern of Councilor Randy Filiault’s.
Filiault has been opposed to the bike lanes altogether, arguing the space allotted to them would be better used as additional sidewalk and for outdoor seating.
He’s especially against any vehicles with motors, besides medical devices, being allowed in the lanes, even if running the motors is prohibited.
“I agree with Councilor Williams that we should kill it, but I also think we should kill it and not bring it back,” he said during the meeting.
He voted “no.”
Sophia Keshmiri can be reached at 603-283-0725 or skeshmiri@keenesentinel.com.
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