BURLINGTON — The City Council has advanced a plan to install bike lanes on Winooski Avenue, a plan that faced opposition from Old North End business owners concerned about parking cuts but support from bikers and climate activists.
The plan — approved on a 7-5 vote early Tuesday morning — would move the street from four to three lanes between Main Street and Pearl Street, add bike lanes on both sides of the street and add bike lanes from Pearl Street to Riverside Avenue.
This would lead to the elimination of a total of 84 spaces north of Pearl Street, pending the completion of a parking management study. Twelve spaces south of Main Street would also be eliminated.
Voting in favor were: Karen Paul, D-Ward 6; Max Tracy, P-Ward 2; Chip Mason, D-Ward 5; Ali Dieng, P/D-Ward 7; Jack Hanson P-East District; Adam Roof, I-Ward 8; and Perri Freeman, P-Central District.
Those opposed were: Sharon Bushor, I-Ward 1; Kurt Wright R-Ward 4; Joan Shannon D-South District; Brian Pine, P-Ward 3; and Franklin Paulino, D-North District.
Tracy said the changes would both increase safety on the corridor and help the city move in the right direction to meet climate goals by limiting vehicular emissions.
“We agreed almost unanimously that this is a crisis, and I believe we have to do everything we can to mobilize that,” he said. “When we think about creating an actually fully functioning bike network, we really need to make sure that we do that in the fullest way we possibly can, by making sure we actually address the north-south connectivity issues.”
Winooski Avenue is one of the streets in the city with the highest crash rates, with 16% of crashes involving bicycles and 17% of crashes involving pedestrians in the city happening on the avenue.
The resolution calls for the street to be shortened to three lanes from Pearl Street to Main Street and the installation of bike lanes in both directions from Pearl Street to Main Street and south in 2020.
The resolution also calls for the installation of bike lanes in both directions between Pearl Street and Riverside Avenue and pedestrian safety improvements along the corridor in 2021. However, the city will undergo a parking management study this year before making those changes north of Pearl Street.
Mayor Miro Weinberger, who backs the changes, said while future votes will be needed to make the adjustments north of Pearl Street, supporting the resolution signified the city was serious about moving forward.
“This signals the council’s intent that we are serious about getting this done,” he said.
Hanson said the changes were needed to fight the climate crisis. He said that the city’s inadequate transportation system for methods outside of driving led residents to take on the high costs of car ownership.
“If we continue to dedicate public space and public dollars towards parking, and we continue to under-invest in creating safe infrastructure for non-car transportation, that will never change,” he said.
Hanson said that the availability of parking and extra lanes of traffic incentivises driving.
“The solution to parking issues can and must be on the demand side of things, not on the supply side,” he said.
Pine said he believed the process in developing the plan was not sufficiently inclusive.
“If we leave people behind as we plan major infrastructure projects, we will hear about it,” he said. “I believe that people realize we have to do something. This is leaving people behind in a transition that needs to be grounded in justice, and I feel like we’ve left people behind.”
Bushor said she was concerned about the effects the installation of bike lanes would have on the small businesses along the corridor. She said she thought the plan could put those businesses at risk.
“I think it’s really not founded that they can survive with pedestrian and bicycle customers alone,” she said. “They need to have people come in vehicles, and when they come in vehicles, they have to be able to park.”
Some of these business owners and nonprofit representatives spoke against the plan during public forum, including representatives of Community Health Centers of Burlington, Outright Vermont and Champlain Housing Trust.
Lee Anderson, the owner of Radio Bean, Light Club Lamp Shop and Duino Duende, said while he supports bicycling infrastructure, the plan would negatively affect the neighborhood.
“Changing the parking, to eliminating that many spots on North Winooski Avenue, will dramatically impact my business, other businesses, and the residents not only on North Winooski Avenue but also the side streets,” he said.
Others spoke in favor of the resolution during the evening public forum.
Resident Graham Turk said that the city needed to pass the plan to improve the city’s bike infrastructure and push toward its climate goals.
“Whatever direct emission reduction might be attributable to this resolution, and it is significant, it is equally vital for the message it sends to current and future residents of this city — that we are dead serious about providing our residents with alternative modes of transportation, and reducing our dependence on personal vehicle ownership,” he said.
