Action on Lakewood Bike Plan Gets Green Light

took the city’s comprehensive Master Bike Plan and got it rolling on Monday night.

Council unanimously OK’d a measure that will to pay for “sharrows” on Detroit Avenue.

The painted bike symbols — aimed at reminding motorists to share the road with cyclists — would stretch from to the .

“If hearts could be warm and fuzzy, then mine would be right now,” said Ward 2 councilman , who introduced the proposal to council last month. “It is what we talked about all along. These are some good early first steps to implementing the city’s master bike plan.”

As outlined in the city’s budget, council has the ability to use the $49,000 available in the economic development fund for whatever it chooses. 

On Monday, council approved $20,000 to be spent from this fund to get the project moving.

Joe Beno, the city’s director of public works, said that the city will likely put the project out for bids, noting that his department doesn’t have the necessary equipment to do the job.

City officials have said the other phases of the plan include the rest of Detroit Avenue — as well as , depending on next summer’s possible $2 million resurfacing.

Last month, more than a — and — started popping up on Detroit Avenue.

That was one of the result of the city’s comprehensive and progressive , an idea to make Lakewood .

“This is a key first step,” he said.

During the past year, the city hosted community workshops, conducted surveys and carried out bike traffic counts. City officials have spent the past couple months talking to business leaders and schools officials.

The studies outlined what city officials already suspected: biking in Lakewood isn’t an alternative form of transportation.

It’s a main form of transportation.

A traffic count at the intersection of Detroit and Andrews avenues saw an “astronomical” number of pedestrians and cyclists.