It’s Open Paving Season!
Don’t miss this opportunity to install bike lanes.
Summer has arrived which means we can reasonably expect many roads are planned to be or in the process of being repaved. In one particular case in downtown Santurce, a 4-lane road is nice and smooth yet marking-less. The road lanes are usually clogged with drivers but re-paving can be used as an opportunity to promote equitable transportation options. These innovative transportation facilities may be the key to reversing Puerto Rico’s ranking as the most unsafe jurisdiction for people walking and biking, based on rates of traffic fatalities involving pedestrians and cyclists.
Safety Improvements via “Software Update”
In the event a security risk is found on our smartphones, companies can update phone software without disruptions and keep us and our personal belongings safe. Over the last two years the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation has adopted a Complete Streets Design Guide and conducted numerous public workshops especially directed for engineering and planning professionals in the public and private sector. Furthermore, we are aware that pedestrians and cyclists are dying on our urban roads and that safer alternatives exist. A major recent study, for example, explains that adding protected bike lanes was the prime contributor to increased safety for pedestrians and cyclists by inducing more people to take up this sustainable mode of transportation.
If a major safety flaw is present in our road networks and we have the ability to update them at minimal disruption to uses and procedures, what would that kind of roads update look like? The Federal Highway Administration outlines best practices that can be incorporated as part of routine roadway resurfacing activities. The majority of these implementations involve a novel intervention known as a road diet, an interim redesign phase where the roadway base dimensions are retained and cycling and walking facilities are incorporated by narrowing and/or reducing the number of travel lanes.
Santurce and Bike Infrastructure
Over the past 30 years, Santurce has been one of a handful of barrios to receive cycling infrastructure in all of Puerto Rico. But the Paseo de Atlántico, as the existing bicycle corridor is known, only connects communities along the coast and is usually limited to sharing the road with drivers and loading vans. Newer avenues of growth in bicycle traffic should address unmet needs of communities located away from the coast as well as connecting hotel goers with cultural destinations in downtown Santurce.
The R.H. Todd Avenue corridor has recently been repaved and the demand for a bikeway is usually manifested by tourists sharing the road in trying to get to Walmart or the Contemporary Art Museum. The need for protected cycling facilities here is way overdue but a road diet would also reduce traffic conflicts from turning traffic and pedestrians by incorporating a painted median. The major question is how can DOTs and local governments collaborate to provide a streamlined approach to enabling safe facilities through repaving?
As expected road maintenance projects are allocated funding, communities like Santurce can use road diets to accommodate growth while attracting additional investment. For little to no cost at all, aforementioned safety loopholes can be patched, performance can be monitored, and tweaks can be made to similar corridors that serve people walking and biking and are expecting road maintenance. These changes can save lives, improve the sense of community, and most importantly, provide resilient alternatives in the face of interruptions to the supply of transport fuel by means of bicycle infrastructure.
