There are more reasons than ever to cycle in Syracuse, with new bike lanes on Euclid and Comstock avenues.

The lanes were painted recently as a result of advocacy from students and several biking groups, said Dennis Brogan, director of public affairs and neighborhood services at Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll’s office.

The new bike lanes are an effort to make biking and traffic safer, Brogan said.

Two years ago, the issue was brought up at a meeting at the Westcott Community Center. Since then, groups including Student Environmental Action Coalition, University Neighborhood Partnership (UNP) and Bike CNY have advocated for the new bike lanes.

Beth Rougeux of UNP, said the group has been studying issues related to the density in the university neighborhood east of campus for about eight months. Traffic and biking were key topics in the discussions.

‘The UNP was another voice among the many that have encouraged bike lanes among the university,’ she said.

Nathan Halabuda, a junior computer science major, said he thinks the idea is a good gesture but may not be practical.

‘The bike lanes have kind of turned into just a parking lane,’ he said.

He suggested this may be a problem because people commute home on bikes at the same time as the ‘6 o’clock switch-over’ for parking on Euclid.

The parking lanes on Euclid are intended to be shared with bike lanes.

‘This is a respect thing for students and faculty. The choice was to eliminate biking or share the road, not to eliminate parking,’ Brogan said.

Illegal parking on the sides of the street will be enforced, Brogan said. People are looking to realign their transportation options as gas prices rise and as the public becomes more aware of environmental problems.

Caroline Savage, a sophomore international law major, lives on South Campus and frequently rides her bike in the area. She said she is surprised that the bike lanes were not painted sooner.

‘I’m glad to hear about (the bike lanes) because the sidewalks in those areas are unsatisfactory to say the least, and travel can be dangerous at night,’ she said.

Michael Smith, a junior environmental biology major at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, said it appears that more people are biking and utilizing the lanes.

He said more biking lanes on campus would be a good idea because bike riding can be difficult, especially when people do not obey the speed limit.

Brogan addressed student safety concerns and said the new bike lanes will encourage more people to bike and walk in these areas, making the community a safer place.

‘If there are more of us doing good things, it is less likely for bad things to happen, so as biking increases, there will be better safety,’ he said.

In the future, Brogan said the mayor’s office will be looking to make biking safer within the university campus, possibly with more biking lanes.

‘The mayor rides a bike himself, so he was happy to make biking safer,’ Brogan said. ‘This is a way to best serve the people.’

Published on October 16, 2007 at 12:00 pm