My street will be a bike boulevard

We went to a public meeting last night where the city department of public works aired a proposal to turn Humboldt street into a bicycle boulevard. Since I live on Humboldt and ride the entire length on my way to work every day, this is tailor-made for me. When we first got the meeting notice, I was a bit alarmed at the "boulevard" part thinking they were going to widen the street and cut down all the stately trees. Not to worry. It just means adding signage and a couple of roundabouts.

Roundabouts are way better than stop signs. Other improvements will be bike boxes, which give bicycles the right of way over cars at intersections, bulbouts to shorten crosswalks by schools and bioswales to improve drainage and clean water going into stormdrains.


The meeting had a lot of people and a lot of comments. There were the usual grumpy old men complaining about "young people" ignoring traffic laws and people complaining about crazy drivers. Outside of that, it looks like it'll be a positive development. This is what happens when progressives have a governing majority: common-sense solutions that make a city better.