A Few Humble Suggestions

The Louisiana Department of Transportation held a public meeting at City Park Tuesday night to gather input for a statewide bicycle/pedestrian master plan. I missed it, but good ole Charlie London tells me we can still send ideas to esoll@bkiusa.com

Here’s what I sent:

I commute to work every day in New Orleans using the Jefferson Davis Parkway bike path. A simple, cheap thing could be done to enhance the safety of this path — just put some of those white bumps on pavement where the path crosses the various streets. This would help motorists know the path is there. Also, how about a sign or two indicating there’s a bike path? And finally, where the path crosses Tulane Ave. is quite dangerous. Cyclists can’t tell when the light will change and I often get stuck on the neutral ground, which unfortunately is very narrow and difficult to be on with a bike because the cars are passing in very close proximity. I’m not sure what the best solution is here but something could surely be done.

I’m don’t know if this is the kind of information they were looking for. Probably not. Oh well. I’ve been wanting to make these suggestions for years and I’ll pretty much tell anyone who listens. I think this path is maintained by the city, not the state. Maybe I should send it to the Department of Public Works or Parks & Parkways.

Update: I got the following in reply.

Thanks for your comments. We are working on a statewide bicycle and pedestrian policy plan for the LDOTD, so while your comment can be part of the public record, which may be helpful to the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator in the future, we aren’t doing a case by case look at all bike facilities in the state – we are focused on the policy that ‘drives’ the project development process.

It’s my understanding that that bike path is city maintained, so you may want to contact the public works department, or the Regional Planning Commission.