After a proposed project to improve a section of Main Street sparked city-wide discussions last month over the addition of bike lanes, at least one city councilman is still looking to make the city more bicycle friendly.
Councilman Tim Salters proposed an amendment to an existing ordinance that would allow cyclists to ride on city sidewalks.
According to city attorney Dave Roellgen, said the current ordinance, if read carefully, only prevents the riding of bicycles on sidewalks in business districts such as like downtown Main Street, Hart Street and Sixth Street.
“This ordinance was passed to keep people from riding bikes on sidewalks where pedestrian traffic would be most affected,” he said. “This not a blanket piece of legislation.”
Salters said his reasoning for proposing that the portion of the current ordinance be done away with is simply to make the city more welcoming to those who ride bicycles.
But few of the council members even knew of the law until the city’s Redevelopment Commission began talks of applying for a $10 million grant to widen and improve Main Street from 22nd Street out to Richard Bauer Drive. The project includes bike lanes on either side, and residents along that stretch of road opposed them, upset about being forced to sell their property for something they didn’t deem useful.
Others, like members of Keep Vincennes Rolling, a group bicycle enthusiasts, argued that not only would those lanes be used, but they would also create a healthier population and make Vincennes more attractive to new families.
In the end, the city council gave its blessing to the RDC to move forward, and an application will be submitted to INDOT that includes two 4-foot bike lanes.
That said, city council member Shirley Rose said she wouldn’t be inclined to change the current bicycle legislation, especially in business districts.
“I just don’t think people should ever rides bikes in the downtown area,” she said, “not on the sidewalks. They are already too narrow. And what if someone comes out of a store right into the path of someone riding a bicycle? I mean, can you imagine?”
Mayor Joe Yochum agreed and said the bicycle ordinance was passed years ago strictly for safety reasons.
Yochum has, however, been working with Roellgen to draft a totally new bicycle ordinance, one that would mandate the inclusion of bike lanes in any new or resurfacing road project anywhere in the city.
Council president Duane Chattin said he looked forward to researching how other communities have handled such an issue, and he asked that police chief Dusty Luking come back to the council at a later date with his thoughts as well.
After the meeting, Luking said police officers have typically always turned a blind eye to any youngster riding on a city sidewalk unless they were riding very fast in a section were pedestrian traffic was heavy.
“It’s just not ever been an issue,” he said. “So I think it would be fine either way the council decides to go.”
Luking suggested the council, instead, look at redefining the city’s business districts to better lay out where bicycles are prohibited.
The council approved the amendments on first reading, but the issue will now go to its Public Health and Safety Committee for further review.