Bicyclist Andrew Dickson addresses Jamestown City Council (January 22, 2024)
A proposal to add bike lanes to East Second Street has passed the City Council Public Works Committee.
As part of the State’s reconstruction of East Second Street in 2025, a proposal that the city request dedicated bicycle lanes for the street was brought before Jamestown City Council.
A dedicated bike lane would be installed on the east bound lane, and the west bound lane will be widened to allow for bike and car shared lane. To accommodate the dedicated bike lane, parking on the southwest side of the road would be removed on East Second Street from East Fourth Street to the Tiffany Avenue.
Local citizen and bicyclist Andrew Dickson spoke at Monday’s work session, expressing “full throated support” for the project, saying he was excited about the early success of the bike lanes added to Washington Street, “And the possibility that this has to connect and provide an east-west avenue or to begin to build out an east-west portion of our bikeability. I’d be lying if I didn’t hope that Foote Avenue and North Main Street won’t be soon behind East Second Street with the redesign because North Main Street is a particular concern of mine. It’s a pedestrian disaster up by the Tim Horton’s pinch point.”
Dickson said he’d also like to see the city use traffic calming tools on other City-maintained streets like Falconer Street. He added that there are people who bike year round and use East Second Street.
Finance Committee Chair Brent Sheldon said the committee discussed the resolution, but since there were no financial implications, they deferred to the Public Works Committee on the matter. Sheldon had previously expressed concern about the area between Weeks and Winsor Streets which have a lot of multi-family houses that do not have off-street parking.
Public Works Committee Chair Randy Daversa said following comments received from the public by council members the committee approved the resolution. It will now go for a final approval before the whole City Council at their voting session on Monday, January 29.
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