Philadelphia councilman wants right to reject new bike lanes

A new bill would give city council a say on adding bike lanes in Philadelphia.  

Councilman William Greenlee says his bill gives council the right to review any additional bike lanes just as they do with other street and highway issues.

“We just feel it would make it a consistent policy, we are not anti bike or anti bike lane,” said Greenlee.

Greenlee does say he’s heard complaints about newly added bike lanes.

“I would say there are places, and this might get me in trouble, where bike lanes might not be the most appropriate thing,” he said. “They might not be the positive they are in other places in the city.  I’ll give you an example, Tenth Street, I don’t know that’s was the best place to put a bike lane.”

Alex Doty of the Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia says he hopes for a more streamlined process for approving new lanes.

“At the end of this we can all of us can end up with a sensible regulation for how we come up with community approval  for installing bike lanes,” said Doty.

Council has not scheduled a hearing on the bill.