May 23, 2018
Dear Tarrytown Friends:
You need to join in today with everyone who wants Broadway to be safer and accessible by everybody.
Over the past 10 years, 316 people were injured on Broadway in Tarrytown, of which 46 were people walking and biking. This is unacceptable. We need bold, visionary leadership. Now.
That's inspired the Route 9 "Active Transportation" study. Recommendations from each Village are being finalized this week.
Unfortunately, Drew Fixell (Tarrytown's Mayor) is altering the study committee's recommendations. Drew is sticking with old policies that hamper businesses with a Broadway that's full of traffic, noise, crashes, pollution and ugly parked cars.
Short on time? Jump to the "Action" section at the bottom. Copy and paste the email addresses and text. Hit send. Done!
Want to know nitty gritty details? Read on...
Drew is cutting the protected bike lane off at Benedict Ave. (The Committee recommended it reach Main St.) Even crazier, it won't connect with the Old Croton Aqueduct at Franklin St, even though the Village is going to be fixing up the OCA (using $300,000 in grant funds Bike Tarrytown helped obtain.)
This is unfortunate for Tarrytown's merchants and residents. This gap undermines the ability of people to feel comfortable biking to Main St from the Van Wart, Pennybridge, Gracemere and Route 119 neighborhoods. So they'll either continue driving here or avoid coming here in the first place.
It also means we're foregoing significant bike tourism dollars from people riding the OCA and the new Tappan Zee Bridge's bike path. Instead, they'll go places that have, or will get, safe trails and bike lanes (Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford).
All to keep a few free parking spots across from Washington Irving School. Schools are the _last_ place we should encourage driving. Cars are the #1 cause of injury death for kids. We need to love our kids by leaving our cars at home.
The initial plan had the protected bike lane from Sleepy Hollow continue to Wildey St, providing a safe, fast option for Sleepy Hollow residents to get to the Library and C-Town, reducing the load on those very busy parking lots.
But Drew's initial response was to cut it off at the Village line (Patriots Park driveway). We've been discussing this area with him. It's unclear if he'll leave the lane in the report or drop it so he can keep giving up a public right of way so 5 people can park their private property on it for free.
The parking lane on Broadway in Sleepy Hollow by the High School is so rarely used, it's kind of like having a bike lane already. :) Making it official will be relatively easy. Here are two videos of the "bike lane" in use:
South of the DoubleTree to the Irvington border, the initial plan was for a 2-way lane made from the western-most lane. The Village started mucking with the plan, looking to make it a 1-way lane on each side.
But that would require people biking north from the OCA at Lyndhurst to cross Broadway twice for no reason.
Bike Tarrytown started conversing with Drew and the Steering Committee to explain why the 1-side option is better. We think the Village is heading in the right direction, but we're not sure. Here are some drawings about it:
https://biketarrytown.org/img/rt9-p11_2018-05-04_bt.png
https://biketarrytown.org/img/rt9-p12_2018-05-04_bt.png
https://biketarrytown.org/img/rt9-p10_2018-05-04_bt.png
We're also having conversations with the Thruway about this stretch. Because of everyone who responded to the Thruway's open house in October, they're looking to extend the Side Path from the DoubleTree driveway to the Old Croton Aqueduct at Lyndhurst. (GO TEAM!) But the way they're going about it is nuts. Local staffers wouldn't listen to reason, so we wrote the Thruway's Director:
https://biketarrytown.org/broadway-for-everybody/interchange-9-side-path-extension-2018-05-18.pdf
Send a quick email to Tarrytown's Mayor, Trustees and Route 9 Committee:
Drew Fixell <dfixell@tarrytowngov.com>, Thomas Butler <tbutler@tarrytowngov.com>, Karen Brown <kbrown@tarrytowngov.com>, Robert Hoyt <rhoyt@tarrytowngov.com>, Mary McGee <mmcgee@tarrytowngov.com>, Rebecca McGovern <bmcgovern@tarrytowngov.com>, Douglas Zollo <dzollo@tarrytowngov.com>, Richard Slingerland <rslingerland@tarrytowngov.com>, Route 9 Steering Committee <info@route9active.org>
Sustaining Members give us a dependable base of support. Your donation is billed to your credit card each month. Hastings Velo has donated gift certificates to the next handful of people who become Sustaining Members at the $10/mo level. https://biketarrytown.org/donate.php
Keep the momentum going!
Remember, the TaSH Farmers Market starts again this Saturday!
See you,
--Dan
biketarrytown.org | info@biketarrytown.org | B: @biketarrytown.bsky.social | F: @BikeTarrytn
