Second season of Middle Street/Lafayette Road bike lanes to include further traffic analyses and reduced bollards

Last September, the City implemented new bike lanes on the Middle Street/Lafayette Road corridor to create a safer, on-road bike route along Route 1 between the High School and Downtown. This new design included buffered bike lanes, defined parking spaces and bollards (also known as flex posts) along the marked bike lane. 

To kick off this biking season, all street lines will be re-painted as part of the annual citywide line striping program. Beginning on Monday, April 15th through mid-May, staff will be observing traffic behavior along the bike lanes prior to reinstalling bollards in early June. This year, there will only be 60 bollards along the corridor which is a reduction of posts by 54 percent compared to last year. This year’s bollards will also: 

• be shorter, more flexible and better quality;
• have an increased distance between posts by about 80 feet in most locations; and
• sit inside of the painted buffer area away from vehicular travel lanes, allowing for approximately four more feet of travel room for motor vehicles.

Throughout this biking season, traffic speeds will continue to be monitored and analyzed, in addition to traffic behavior at intersections and side streets, pedestrian and bicycle counts, and parking counts along the corridor and on side streets.