Tortilla flats bicycle ride2/12/2024 ![]() The Indian restaurant and grocery are just up the street from the northern end of the trail, but it has already affected traffic and business on Hope Street, Islam said, taking away parking and causing delays when, for instance, everyone has to queue up behind a garbage truck that can’t pull to the side. “I understand the concept they have,” Mohammed Islam, owner of Not Just Snacks and Not Just Spices. The city did not stop it, and by the middle of the week, some area businesses say their fears have come true. Still, the pilot project and the resulting debate over it have crystallized the push and pull that often comes with putting in bike infrastructure on city streets long dominated by cars.Ī group of merchants on Hope Street opposed even the temporary installation of the bike lane, pointing to traffic and parking concerns. The city doesn’t have the funding or timeline to install it permanently right now, to say nothing of the upcoming change in administrations from Jorge Elorza to Brett Smiley, so even if it proves incredibly popular based on the surveys that are being done right now, it won’t be a full-time reality anytime in the near future. Supporters emphasize that it’s merely a temporary project, running until Saturday. ![]() It includes paint, temporary bollards, and platforms for bus stops, running a mile on the eastern side of Hope Street from Tortilla Flats to Frog & Toad. The coalition got city permission to put in the lane, but used private funding for it. The bike lane project - the Hope Street Temporary Trail, advocates call it, a nod both to its impermanence and the fact it can be used for more than just bikes but also scooters, wheelchairs, or pedestrians - is the work of the Providence Streets Coalition and other private groups. “Folks seem to feel strongly either way, which means they really love their community - which is wonderful,” Liza Burkin, lead organizer with the Providence Streets Coalition, said in an interview. And organizers say there’s good that comes out of that. Opinions about the Hope Street temporary trail are… well, impassioned. “I just want to tell someone this is the worst idea ever.” ![]() ![]() “I gotta tell you, it feels like living in a real city,” Brashear said.īut also, around the same time, someone drove up in a car, rolled down her window, and said the following: ![]()
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