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Lafayette ordinance aims to make roads safer for bicyclists, pedestrians

Posted at 7:06 PM, Jul 11, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-11 20:06:25-04
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQjY-VRkCds?rel=0&showinfo=0]

A new ordinance in Lafayette aims to make roads safer for bicyclists and pedestrians. 

"People get around our city in a lot of different ways, and we need to make it a place where people can get around regardless of via a bus, or a car, or a bike or just walking to get around from place to place," explained Southern Lifestyle Development Planning Director Carlee Alm-LeBar. 

That’s why Lafayette city leaders hope the "Complete Streets Plan" will accomplish. 

Bicyclists hope the city puts an emphasis on adding new bike lanes and improving existing ones. 

"There’s a few we can use to get around, but we could use more, and the ones we do have aren’t that great. It’s dangerous when you’re trying to get across town and there are no bike lanes do that, they should just have more," said Hub City Cycles staff member Sean LaSalle.

Carlee Alm-LeBar wrote the "complete streets" plan while working for Lafayette Consolidated Government. 

She says the city had been working to make transportation safer for cyclists and pedestrians before passing the new law. 

"Over the last few years we’ve really tried to retro-fit some of our infrastructures, so if you look at roads like St. Landry, or St. Mary, or Garfield we’ve added bike lanes, but sometimes when you do that, you don’t always have good connections between those," said Alm-LeBar.

Now that the complete streets plan is in place, the city will be committed to adding bike lanes and sidewalks to newly constructed roads, the hope of keeping all travelers safe. 

"So, basically it says look if you look,  as we as a city design roads into the future, we should take in different types of users, that includes people who just walk alongside the roads, as long people who bike, as long as people in cars," said Alm-LeBar.