Roads, Bikes, and a Little Finance

After walking around the City and meeting with folks for much of the afternoon yesterday, I then went out and took a lovely bike ride around most of our 13 villages.  I did this both to try out a route that The City will be using for an event in a few months (as part of Walk Bike Week) and also to think a bit. 

A cyclist was hit and injured earlier this week in a hit and run at the corner of Grant and Beacon just east of Newton Centre.  There was discussion in another blog in which one writer suggested that the roads are for the primary use of cars, that cyclists should use these roads entirely at their own risk.  This individual suggested that all travel in our City should take place in a motor vehicle.

At the risk of trying to cover too much in these posts, I had a few thoughts to share both on sharing our roads, and the condition of those roads themselves.

It is good news for us to have more and more cyclists on our streets.  I say this is good as people who value living in Newton because it’s a great place to live also know that the City has great proximity to their jobs in Boston, Cambridge, Waltham, as well as in Newton.  They love the fact that they can live here and – maybe – not have to own a car.  Sometimes this means that they take public transit, but it also increasingly means that they bike to work.  On top of this, we also have a great number of recreational cyclists.

What this all means is that we have to learn how to share the road.  Given the congestion on our roads and the growing desire to incorporate more active and green modes of travel into our everyday lives, we will have to evolve in the use of our roads.  This will be achieved partially through design, but riders and drivers alike will need to learn how to look out for themselves and each other.  All users of the roads – drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians – should use the roads responsibly and in accordance with the rules. 

The design comment above brings me to another topic.   The current state of our roads suggests that we need a continuous, thoughtful, and systemic approach to the condition of our roads and of our City’s infrastructure more broadly.  The City finally has a full Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) in place, but we need to make sure that we find ways of continuously and responsibly financing our ongoing maintenance and executing on the CIP.  I’ll save everyone the abrupt change of topic, but will return to financial planning and controls in a later post.

In the meantime, please go out and enjoy a good walk or bike ride.  Maybe spend a little time in the Village centers while you’re out there.

NOTE: Thanks to Lois Levin for getting me the correct information on the details of the upcoming Tour de Newton.

Chris Steele is running for the city-wide office of Alderman at Large, Ward 5.  You can learn more at www.steele4newton.org or by contacting him at steelch@yahoo.com