Letter: Traffic priorities

To the editor:

I strongly object to the constant drumming by city and county traffic planners and engineers to increase the number of bicycle trafficways and parking for the small minority of people who ride bikes for exercise or as primary transportation in Lawrence.  

One day we hear that city traffic engineers are advancing the idea of reducing Kasold Drive, and later to narrow other city streets, to single lanes in each direction, to coerce people to exercise more by riding bikes and walking. And, of course adding bike paths and walking paths in place of the lane that got removed.  

Next we see a county traffic engineer wanting to reduce the number of motor vehicle parking places downtown by making “bike corrals,” “which is a good way to bring legitimacy to biking as a transportation mode.” If I want to bike, I will do so without any encouragement from social engineers masquerading as traffic planners.

Like it or not, Lawrence is a city of automobiles, and traffic engineers should bend their efforts to move motorized traffic around town as efficiently as possible, not try to promote exercise by restricting it.

Having said that, I would support bike corrals downtown, provided that concurrently a law is passed (and enforced) prohibiting bike parking on city sidewalks, with appropriate ticketing and fines for noncompliance. Biking is fun and good exercise, as well as a means of transportation for a small minority of the population, but bikers can’t have it both ways without taking some responsibility for their actions.