Philadelphia bike safety in peril following City Council proposal: Advocates

Recently introduced legislation in the Philadelphia City Council would require an ordinance from the chamber any time bike infrastructure is altered or upgraded. That might include something as pedestrian as repainting a bike-lane line.

Bike advocates are understandably peeved at the council’s potential interjection into the issue. “We should never require a Council vote that could compromise safety over convenience,” writes Dena Ferrara Driscoll, a family biking advocate and co-chair of 5th Square PAC, in an Inquirer op-ed. “Not now, not ever.”

The Streets Department currently oversees bike-infrastructure modifications, with the input of engineers and other experts on the issue, though new bike lanes still need council approval.

Bikers worry that strengthening the chamber’s hand will make newer bike lanes even more difficult to unspool and existing ones that much more difficult to reinforce.

What’d you think?

• City Council’s bike lane bill won’t make Philadelphia’s streets safer [Inquirer]
• New City Council bill threatens progress on Philly’s bike lanes [Plan Philly]