Last night’s City Council meeting had at least one bizarre moment.  It occurred after Brent Willett approached the podium to address the City Council as a representative of the Chamber of Commerce and Fairfield Economic Development Association (FEDA).  In order to address concerns from the business community regarding the new three lane configuration coming to Burlington Avenue, Brent presented two letters (one from the Chamber and the other from FEDA) summarized as follows:

we [FEDA and Chamber of Commerce] understand that the planned curriculum of traffic lanes will be adjusted from its current and historic four lane orientation to a one which will feature one eastbound lane, one westbound lane, one middle left-turn lane, and bike lanes on one or both sides of the roadway, with the exception of the section of roadway between Main Street and Court Street, where bike lanes are for one block suspended altogether due to vehicle parking considerations.

FEDA has long been supportive of innovative public transportation policies which- in order of
priority- address the safety of travelers, improve the overall efficiency of freight and passenger
travel and create and preserve recreational opportunities for Fairfield area residents.

As does FEDA, the Chamber requests on the behalf of its members that the Fairfield City Council become inclined and commit future resources toward a scientific review by a qualified actor of traffic safety incidence improvements, vehicle efficiency data and bicycle use and safety data no more than 12 months from the completion of the striping of Burlington Avenue later this summer.

After presenting his opening address to the Mayor and City Council, the response from the Mayor and several Council members was that the new lanes are not “bike lanes”.  Just last week I received emails from city leaders using the term “bike lane” when referring to the new smaller lanes going on the outside of the roadway in both directions.  However last night neither the Mayor or City Council members wanted to call them “bike lanes”.  City Council member Martha Norbeck said they were not designated bike lanes.  And the Mayor pointed out that the redesign of Burlington Ave did not include the goal of putting in bike lanes, but rather that was a secondary consideration resulting form the extra space left over from a three lane configuration.

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