Thursday, July 23, 2020

A SQUEAKY WHEEL GUIDE 16

TO LOCAL ADVOCACY
“The bike coalition is very strong,” Lewkowicz says of her hometown, Berkeley. 

“A lot of street redesigns have been improving the situation for cyclists but at the same time taking away access for people with disabilities.”

Previously, cars and vans parked next to the curb, where a ramp-equipped van could safely deploy onto the sidewalk. 

To protect cyclists from traffic, the new design moves the parking spaces away from the curb and paints a bike lane between the sidewalk and on-street parking.

This means that a van ramp deploys perilously into the pathway of fast-moving bicycles. 

Also, because the ramp is at street level instead of curb level, wheelchair users have no way of directly accessing the sidewalk and must roll many car lengths — hoping there are no obstructions — to make it to an intersection where the curb ramps are.

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