CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The streets of Cambridge are about to become a bit safer for cyclists after the city council there voted to add more protected bike lanes on certain streets set for reconstruction.
"If a street comes up for reconstruction that's included in the bike plan's protective network, the ordnance says it needs to get a protective bike lane," Sam Feigenbaum with Cambridge Bike Safety told WBZ NewsRadio's James Rojas.
Feigenbaum believes the law is a first in the nation.
"We're pretty well-connected in the bike community, and we've been asking around, and nobody has come and said 'Hey, we've done something like this.' The response we've got has been, 'Wow, this is really cool, we should do something like this'," he said.
He hopes more municipalities follow the city's example.
Cambridge Police say the number of bicycle crashes has been dropping in recent years. The last cyclist death in the city was in November 2018.
Out on the street this morning, one rider, Tom from Cambridge, told WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal it's a great idea.
"You're protected, you can ride to work and you don't have to worry about cars and stuff," he said. "There's too many cars on the road."
But another rider, Steve, cycling from Somerville as he has every day for 45 years, doesn't like the idea—he says that, in the winter, the protected lanes will never be plowed.
"I don't believe in them," he said. "Just a regular open bike lane that you share with the traffic is better than the protected."
(Photo: Getty Images/Claudio Fasetti/EyeEm)
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WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal (@Karynregal) contributed to this report.
WBZ NewsRadio's James Rojas (@JamesRojasWBZ) reports