By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD – In its last meeting before the Town Election, the Town Council last night voted for a new roadway configuration on North Avenue that would eliminate the existing northbound bike lane and buffer zone in favor of wider vehicle travel lanes with sharrows along the shoulders on both sides to accommodate bicycles traveling in both directions. (Sharrows are road markings that indicate which part of the roadway is used by bicycles.)
The new configuration, proposed by Town Councilor Robert Vincent, would remove the 5-foot northbound-only protected bike lane and the 3-foot buffer zone with flex posts that was created late last year. That current configuration provides no southbound accommodation for bicycles and reduced the width of the automobile travel lanes down to 11.5 feet in each direction.
Vincent’s proposal, which he presented in the form of a motion, called for taking the combined width of the northbound bike lane and buffer zone and creating a 4 to 5-foot shoulder for bike travel on the northbound side of North Avenue and a 2.5 to 4-foot shoulder for bike travel on the southbound side. Vincent’s plan also restored the vehicular travel lanes to 12.5 feet in each direction. His proposal would also eliminate the flex posts that ran the length of the existing northbound bike lane, from Hall Park to Quannapowitt Parkway.
Vincent said that his plan came out of his conclusion that Wakefield must accommodate southbound bicycles on North Avenue, especially since there is a new electronic sign erected by the state at the southbound Reading/Wakefield town line telling bicyclists when it’s safe to proceed.
Vincent noted that Police Chief Steven Skory and Fire Chief Michael Sullivan support his reconfiguration plan. The chiefs sent a joint memorandum to the Town Council to that effect.
“We support this new proposal because it makes full use of the roadway with widened vehicular travel lanes and allows for bicycle use in both directions,” Skory and Sullivan wrote. “Flex poles are not necessary with this configuration.”
Councilor Edward Dombroski cited a litany of safety concerns that he said had resulted from the current configuration on North Avenue. He said that the present design does not work on a busy throughfare connected to the interstate highway system. He cited concerns from ambulance personnel saying that the vehicle lanes are too narrow. He also noted that there is currently nowhere for delivery trucks to pull over and no room for vehicles to go around them if they do.
“This roadway is used primarily by motorists year-round and always will be,” Dombroski said. “We tried this,” he said of the present configuration. “It doesn’t work.”
At one point, Councilor Mehreen Butt made a motion to refer Vincent’s plan to the Traffic Advisory Committee for study. But Dombroski pointed out that there was already a main motion on the table made by Vincent. Town Counsel Thomas Mullen confirmed that first motion takes precedence.
Regarding the Police and Fire chiefs’ support for Vincent’s proposal, Town Councilor Jonathan Chines noted that neither Skory nor Sullivan are traffic engineers.
But Town Council Chairman Mike McLane said that he would not toss out the opinions of the town’s two leading public safety experts. He called Vincent’s proposal “a reasonable compromise.”
Chines disputed the assertion that public feedback on the current northbound bike lane had been mostly negative. He noted that the Town Council had gotten about 20 emails before last night’s meeting, all in support of keeping the current design. He also observed that five of the six people who spoke during last night’s public participation segment supported keeping the current bike lane.
But Councilor John Carney doubted the spontaneity of that feedback, noting that bicycle activist John Crisley of the Safe Streets Working Group had been busy organizing people to email and contact the Town Council to support keeping the current bike lane.
Ultimately, the Town Council voted 4-3 in favor of Vincent’s proposed new configuration for North Avenue, eliminating the protected bike lane. Voting in favor were Robert Vincent, Edward Dombroski, Michael McLane and John Carney. Opposed were Councilors Doug Butler, Mehreen Butt and Jonathan Chines.
But the composition of the Town Council will change after next week’s Town Election. McLane and Vincent are not running for re-election. And if Dombroski wins his race for Town Treasurer he would also have to step down with a year remaining on his Town Council term. Meanwhile, bicycle advocate John Crisley, who is running unopposed for a seat on the Town Council, will soon be a member of the board.
Stay tuned.