PHOTO/Leigha Fox

A rider takes advantage of the new bicycle lanes on N. Roosevelt Blvd.

 Bikers can use road, but promenade safer

SEAN KINNEY

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

After more than two years of construction at a cost of $41.5 million, officials cut the ribbon on the reconstructed 2.9-mile stretch of North Roosevelt Boulevard Aug. 5.

And two weeks later, at the Aug. 19 meeting of the Key West City Commission, City Manager Jim Scholl was already responding to complaints about the project.

Motorists are complaining about signage and road markings, called sharrows, that indicate bicyclists can use the entire inside lane of the four-lane, two-way road.

Scholl said the signs are there because they’re required by Florida Department of Transportation standards.

But, he said bicyclists would be wise to stay on the 10-foot waterside promenade or the smaller sidewalk that lines the business side of North Roosevelt.

“The things that are being misinterpreted as bicycle lanes are actually what is referred to as sharrows,” Scholl said in response to a request for explanation from Commissioner Mark Rossi.

He continued: “Bicyclists can already ride on the roads in Florida, including North Roosevelt Boulevard, should they choose to do so. A bicycle acting on a road has to act like any other vehicle. They can take a full lane when the road is not wide enough to allow a car to pass with three feet of clearance. All that sharrow does is reinforce that ability.”

“The reality is,” Scholl said, “the safe place to ride is on that promenade or on the sidewalk, not on North Roosevelt. It’s not a good combination of vehicles at that speed limit. In my own opinion, I just don’t think it’s safe.”

An exasperated speaker told commissioners they had “failed the citizens with the North Roosevelt project,” because the promenade, particularly near the intersection with 5th Street and by the Key West Yacht Club, is too narrow for two-way bicycle traffic.

“I know it’s a done deal and we’re stuck with it,” he said. “We got screwed. It’s now worse for bicycles. We had to have coconut palms but we couldn’t make the bike lane at least wide enough?”

City spokeswoman Alyson Crean pointed out that “nothing has changed” regarding a bicycle rider’s being allowed to ride on the road, rather just signage added.

She said the city encourages bicyclists to use the promenade. “Even if they’re in the right, it’s safer.”

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