The Spokesman-Review is all over the Second Avenue reconstruction project. This article in today’s paper talks about how the road will be open at the end of this construction season, but the finishing touches on the project may have to wait until next year.

And this article talks about how removing a lane for cars in favor of one for bicycles along that street could cause traffic backups. Anna, one of our Air Quality Planners, was interviewed by the Spokesman for this article, but wasn’t quoted. The City has to notify us of what they plan to do on the road and we have to ‘model’ it to determine what kind of effect adding a bike lane would have on air quality. You would think it would help, but if traffic is backing up, it could cause a lot of carbon monoxide emmissions in one place. So far, the City hasn’t officially contacted us so we haven’t been involved.

A lot of other people have weighed in with their opinions though. Bob Apple had an interesting point that your average rider probably wouldn’t feel safe riding on Second Avenue. And the folks who would feel comfortable are experienced enough to ride with traffic. There was also the suggestion in the article to remove parking along at least one side of the road. That’s a really hot-button issue too because business owners tend to get upset when you remove the parking in front of their business.

What do you think- should bike lanes be striped on Second? Should they be striped on a less busy road?