The Netherlands.
(Photo: Alex Hamlin)
Since our story last week, people are still weighing in about the Bureau of Transportation’s decision to remove old cobblestones on NW Marshall in order to lay down new bike lanes.
The story struck a chord with reader Alex Hamlin, who rode his bike around Holland for two weeks last summer. Alex saw the photo from Holland I ran with the story that showed a cobblestone street with smoothly paved bike lanes on it. He wanted us to know that was just one example. See his photo and right and I think you’ll agree with his assessment: “Bumpy? Yes. Civilized? Very.”
As for the bumps, most commenters were against PBOT’s paved bike lane idea. Mia Birk, CEO of Alta Planning, the firm hired for this project, wrote in to point out that she too appreciates the historic aesthetic of the cobblestones, but the decision was made because “we heard loud and clear that the many skinny-tired bike users would not use and were very passionately frustrated by the bumpy cobbles.”
So, civilized or not, PBOT wants to create a bike network that appeals to everyone — even if it means removing some historic cobblestones to do it.