Philly gears up to draft bike plan
Monday, April 13th, 2009
By: Elizabeth Fiedler
efiedler@whyy.org
The city wants to make it easier for pedestrians and bikers to get around Philadelphia. This week, the city is kicking off a series of community meetings to help the City Planning Commission prepare a Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan.
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South Philadelphian Mike Stuerze has some suggestions on behalf of his fellow bikers.
Stuerze: Anywhere around City Hall is pretty bad. And just in general Center City area. Bike lanes in general would be nicer because then you know you're allowed to be in that set area of the street and you don't have to worry about people complaining to you.
Stuerze says he's glad the city's installed more bike racks.
Those are the kind of suggestions the city Planning Commission is looking for.
Transportation Planner Debby Schaaf says a consultant would be able to map gaps in the sidewalk and bike lanes, but it's up to the community to identify which connections are most important to them.
Schaaf says the city's last bicycle network plan helped get over 200 miles of bike lanes built.
The first community gathering will be held at Fels Community Center Auditorium on Thursday night, April 16.