Briar Chapel needs a bike lane

Posted

To the Editor:

New York, Houston, Chicago, even Chapel Hill: what do they have in common? The answer: a bike lane.

Bikes help reduce carbon footprint, are cheap, and rarely cost anything for maintenance. Bike lanes encourage individuals to go out and exercise, and separate bikers from pedestrians on the sidewalk. But this isn’t just about the benefits of bikes and bike lanes. Some suburban places with lots of activities within the community, like Briar Chapel or the Governors Club community, could benefit from the implementation of bike lanes. They make fast, easy transportation safer than before, and encourage citizens of the community to go out and engage in these activities more often.

Briar Chapel especially could benefit from a bike lane, especially one linking to their community pool, or to their community playground. A bike lane can remove traffic from the sidewalks, so bikes or pedestrians aren’t pressured to push themselves off the sidewalk in order to pass one another. Though New York and Chicago aren’t all suburbs, the suburban communities can learn from these large urban centers to control traffic, and make it safer for pedestrians, and bikers.

Ethan Galiger
Chapel Hill