hello,
I live a few streets away from Seaver Street in Roxbury, and was at the community meeting last year at the church regarding the bike lanes on Seaver. One loudmouthed community member (who is not a cyclist) shouted everyone down about putting in a protected bike lane on the westbound side of Seaver (non-park side), and apparently won the argument.
While I’m happy there is now a painted bike lane on Seaver just for the sake of showing people that cyclists are welcome, people constantly double park in it, just as they did when it was a lane of traffic. Traffic has not been slowed by the narrowing of the street. Riding a bike here is no safer than it was before the bike lane was put in. If anything, it is more dangerous because provides a false sense of security and causes cyclists to have to ride out into traffic to get around double parked cars.
I regularly use the shared path on the park side, which is often full of gravel or broken glass, but at least I don’t seem to be in danger of getting hit by a car. I refuse to use the other side of the street for cycling. This is a real shame and I hope the city will reconsider it, although it is probably too late.
sincerely,
~Liz
