Day Blvd Safety Improvement Project

Dear Senator Collins,

I first want to thank you and the other local elected officials to move quickly on the improvements to Day Boulevard. Like many others in the neighborhood, I too feared crossing to the beach via the pedestrian crosswalk at K Street. The traffic calming measures and enforcement have made it much easier to cross Day Blvd and cars seem to be driving more carefully. 

On Thursday evening, I took advantage of the nice weather to bike over to the gas tank along the harbor walk. The bike symbols hadn't been painted on the street yet but could tell there was a bike lane so I tested it out on the way home. Approaching I Street, I noticed the bike lane ended and wasn't sure where to go but as of last night, the newly painted arrow directed me onto the sidewalk. Until now, Day Blvd hasn't had bike lanes so people would ride on the sidewalk but if we're now encouraging people to ride off the street onto the sidewalk, it may become less safe for pedestrians. The current design encourages cyclists to share the sidewalk on the most crowded portion of the sidewalk at the Curley Community Center, inviting unnecessary conflict between people walking and biking. This abrupt change from a separate lane to using the sidewalk may be a surprise to cyclists and pedestrians. 

Having just experienced this myself, I wanted to share my concern with you as we collectively work to improve the experience and safety for vehicles, bikes and pedestrians South Boston. Are there plans to indicate a separation of biking and walking lanes on the sidewalk to help prevent collisions? If the bike lane cannot continue to Farragut on Day Blvd, making a separation on the sidewalk would be ideal.

Thanks for working to make South Boston safer and look forward to hearing back on this. 

Sincerely,
Corey Dinopoulos