City transportation planners have recently begun construction for bicycle lanes throughout Syracuse, said Chuckie Holstein, the Greater Syracuse executive director of the Forging Our Community’s United Strength program.

F.O.C.U.S. is a citizen-driven organization that promotes citizen engagement in Central New York communities.

‘The city is working on the construction of bike lanes as we speak,’ Holstein said. ‘Their work is already apparent in the areas around SU, where bike lane construction has been initiated on Euclid and University avenues.’

Holstein said the city’s plans for bike lanes were accelerated after Syracuse residents voiced their desire for the construction of bike lanes at F.O.C.U.S.’s Citizen Strategic Action Plan meetings. The meetings were held to bring together government agencies, nonprofit organizations and concerned citizens to create plans to improve the Greater Syracuse community.

‘The Strategic Action Plan team met about 14 times, and the citizens came up with recommendations to create healthier living in their community, which included the construction of these bike paths,’ Holstein said.

The bike lane plans have already been put into motion, and Holstein said she expects them to continue to grow in the next few years.

Syracuse already has approximately 10 miles of constructed bike lanes, but many of the lanes are not connected. City officials plan to add 4.2 miles of bicycle lanes on city streets that would link bike lanes already in existence.

The city’s goal is to create paths that allow bikers to get through the city safely and easily, said Paul Mercurio, city transportation planner, in a Jan. 11 CNYcentral online article. 

The plan includes construction for lanes in Eastwood, the Northside, the Southside and the Westside, according to the article.

Mercurio said the point of the plan is to change the way people think about their public space. He said the idea is to make Syracuse a bikeable city as well as a walkable one, according to a Jan. 20 article on 9wsyr.com.

‘We want to make sure that our transportation system is equitable for everyone so that you don’t have to be forced into choosing a car, you can choose to take a bike if you want to take a bike, you can choose to take a car if you want to take a car … and just rebalancing and making our transportation system work for everyone,’ Mercurio said in the article.

City officials are hoping to pay for the project through grants and other outside-funding sources, according to the article.

‘We hope this project creates an accessible trail of downtown Syracuse that is easy to explore,’ said Holstein, executive director of F.O.C.U.S.

Holstein said interns at F.O.C.U.S. have been working to create a website and an iPhone application designed to accompany the walking trails and bike lanes in Syracuse.

‘The response to this overall project has been very favorable from the city,’ Holstein said. ‘We’re excited to see what’s to come of this.’

adhitzle@syr.edu 

Published on January 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Alexandra: adhitzle@syr.edu | @LexieHitzler