Continued
Though the route can be tedious, much of it is perfect for cycling.
Sure, Bridgeport's sometimes bustling downtown can be intimidating.
So can the handful of miles I ride on the Post Road. But for much
of the ride, the shoulder is wide, the hills are few and the drivers
are, by and large, nice.
Not a single driver has honked at me. Nor have
I been cursed at by angry drivers. When a utility van nearly ran me
into a curb on a tight right turn in Stratford, the driver slowed
down to apologize.
There are, of course, a few things to watch
for, such as roadkill, storm drain grates covered with leaves and
drivers yapping on cell phones. But those are run-of-the-mill hazards
you will encounter anywhere.
Though many of these roads seem built for cycling,
I've seen only a handful of people on bikes on the roads between New
Haven and Norwalk - and they're usually concentrated around Sherwood
Island on Sundays. And I've only seen one road sign - also near Sherwood
Island - alerting drivers to cyclists.
This isn't surprising. The state Department
of Transportation found in 2006 that 2,875 of about 1.6 million state
residents commuted by bike. That's less than 0.2 percent of the state
population.
So why do so few residents ride?
For Ray Rauth, a member of the Connecticut
Bicycle Coalition and head of community relations for the Sound Cyclists
Bicycle Club, it's a perception problem.
"If you talk to somebody that doesn't
ride, they think it's dangerous. But if you're alert and careful,
it isn't that dangerous," said Rauth, who said he has logged
25,000 miles riding in the 20 years he's lived in Weston. During that
time, he said has never been hit by a car.
Last year, there were 54 bicycle-vehicle accidents
in Greenwich, New Canaan, Stamford, Darien, Norwalk, Wilton, Weston
and Westport combined, according to the state Department of Transportation.
In New Haven, there were 52 accidents. In Bridgeport,
there were 50, and in Hartford, there were 36.
In the same year, there were three bicycle
fatalities around the state, according to the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration.
Walking is more dangerous than cycling, according
to a 2003 Rutgers study. The study found that pedestrians are 23 times
more likely to be killed in an accident than someone in a car. Cyclists
were 12 percent more likely. Yet Connecticut residents are far more
likely to walk to work than to ride. In 2006, 44,348 people walked
to work around the state, according to the DOT.
Cycling as transportation isn't considered
an option by many people, Rauth said. "The idea of choice is
what's missing - you don't see (cycling) as a choice," he said.
For Jeremy Burcham, owner of Breaking Away
Bicycles in Fairfield, the solution - or at least the beginnings of
a solution - to getting more cyclists on the road is simple: "It
doesn't get easier than designating shoulders (as) bike areas,"
he said. "They can put some paint on the road and make it look
good."
Burcham also was a bike commuter. He rode from
Greenwich to Fairfield - as well as to Mamaroneck, N.Y. - for several
years, and took the Post Road for much of that commute. While there
were some close calls, he wasn't in any accidents.
In 2002, a 20-year plan proposed by the Coastal
Corridor Transportation Investment Area, an advisory group to the
state's Transportation Strategy Board, was devised to make the state
more bicycle-friendly - and more dependent on alternatives to trucks
and cars.
But an author of that plan said little progress
has been made.
"Connecticut is way behind the curve -
especially in our area," said Franklin Bloomer, the author, who
commuted by bike from Greenwich to midtown Manhattan. He left the
board that devised that plan - which reported to an advisory board
that in turn reported to the DOT - earlier this year because the recommendations
weren't being taken seriously, he said.
One idea Bloomer has supported is the Merritt
Parkway trail - a 37.5-mile trail that would extend from the Housatonic
River to the New York border alongside the parkway. A pilot project
in Stamford is planned in the meantime.
But DOT officials say there are too many technical
issues to let the project go forward, such as building ramps and steep
grades that would be required in the West Rock tunnel area.
DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said that while
progress on alternative transportation and accommodating cyclists
has been slow, there has been a sea change in thinking since Gov.
M. Jodi Rell came to office.
"Before then, it was kind of slow shift
toward looking to other modes of transportation," he said. "It's
not news to anyone that prior to Rell, rails had been suffering and
were wholly underfunded for dozens of years. In that regard, there's
an emphasis on bringing public transit up to speed . . . We're getting
there, but we can't do this overnight."
There has been some success in Stamford and
Norwalk.
Both cities have either planned or completed
bike trails, and CTTransit officials in Stamford reported 930 people
using 51 bike racks on city buses last month - an increase of 75 percent
since August 2005. Last year, 5,058 cyclists used the racks, while
this year, 4,356 riders have used them.
Progress with bus racks has been slower in
Norwalk.
Louis Schulman, head of the Norwalk Transit
District, said bike racks have been installed on regional buses, and
more are planned. Though the district doesn't keep statistics on how
many cyclists use the racks, few bikers are boarding the buses, he
said.
And there's not a single bike lane in Stamford
or Norwalk, nor is there a "bike-to-work" promotion in Fairfield
County, as there is in Hartford, according to Alex Karman, a senior
regional planner with the South Western Regional Planning Agency.
Connecticut, he said, has been slow to embrace
those types of projects. "You have to put the facilities in place,
and do the promotion," he said. "It's a matter of changing
the behavior of the traveling public."
