At tonight's legislative session of the Salisbury City Council, I had the opportunity to address the group in support of a pending ordinance which will convert Batemen Street in Salisbury from two-way car traffic to one-way, west bound-only car traffic.  

Why is this ordinance important to cyclists?  This change began as a much-needed improvement at the (now infamous) Batemen-Onley Road intersection to improve safety, but secondarily, the change will allow for additional space in the existing roadway to add both east and west-bound bike lanes at Batemen Street. Once the City agrees to convert the street to one-way car traffic, it will be able to proceed with re-striping the street for bike lanes and pay for it with funds already in-hand.

While this is all great news about positive developments, there is still more to be done.  Others spoke out against this change, and the proposed improvements may stop if their voices prevail.

What can you do to help move this project forward?

Show up at the next City Council meeting for the second (and hopefully final) reading of the ordinance, take to the podium, look you council members in the eye, and tell them why you think this is a great idea.  The next regular meeting will be on July 9, but there may be a special meeting sooner to cover this subject, so watch for any announcements in the paper or on-line. 

Can't make it to the meeting?  Take 5 minutes to write an email to the council members letting them know why it is important to have bike lanes at Batemen.  Send the email to allcitycouncilmembers@ci.salisbury.md.us and all 5 council member will receive your thoughts.  

You don't have to be a City resident to speak at a meeting or write an email, but let them know if you are!

We all will either succeed together or fail together. Do your part and let our leader know that cycling is vital to our community. 

See you on the road!

Matt