No Bike Lane on Winchester

At the November 8 Public Facilities Committee meeting, Public Works Commissioner Robert Rooney discussed his plans to stripe with bike lanes the recently reconstructed and (at that point) unstriped Winchester Street.

Commissioner Rooney's plans for Winchester Street came up in the context of a discussion of the Newton Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force Master Plan, docket item 376-06. But his plans for Winchester Street are not noted in the the committee report (PDF).

Crossing over Winchester this week (as I do regularly to drop daughter of NS&S at day care), I noticed that Winchester has been striped, but without any bike accommodation.

It's tough to attribute bad motive here. Commissioner Rooney and the DPW seem to have taken the initiative on Winchester and I don't recall anybody at the meeting discouraging him about his plans to stripe for bikes.

The diligent staff here at NS&S will monitor.