The Medford City Council voted this week to abandon its controversial bike lanes on Main Street, just three years after installing them.
In 2023, the city reduced the street from three lanes to two and installed protected two-way bike lanes with a state grant intended to improve bike safety. The project cost almost half a million dollars.
Counts of bicycle traffic since the bike lanes were installed showed that traffic increased sixfold. Engineers also didn’t find any major congestion issues with automobiles after the revamp.
Some council members said some residents told them the layout was confusing and hard to navigate. The city has been discussing a change almost since the bike lanes were added, designing alternatives and doing outreach.
An online survey found that the majority of people wanted to return to three lanes, with one lane shared by cars and bikes. That goes against staff recommendations and national guidance on bike lanes.
The council was split Wednesday, requiring Mayor Michael Zarosinski to break the tie. He said he supported a scaled-back version, with one one-way bike lane, small buffers and curb parking, but that the public wanted to return to the previous configuration without a bike lane.
“Maybe we’ve lost a little bit of confidence in the people by getting a little too aggressive to start with,” said Zarosinski.
The city’s aggressive changes will cost it $1 million, including returning the grant to the state. To pay for the changes, Medford will delay other road work.
Council Member Mike Kerlinger favored the scaled-back version, which would have allowed Medford to keep the grant. He warned that the city could be making it harder to change in the future.
“If we ever think something should be modified on Main Street again, it’s going to be hell to convince anyone that that should be doable,” said Kerlinger.
His frustrations were shared by three other council members who also voted against the change. They contended that reverting to the previous street layout would lead to faster driving, conflicts with cyclists and undermine the city’s aim to develop a walkable, attractive downtown.
“I have spoken to many people, mostly young people, who are appalled that we're having the conversation about taking buffered bike lanes off Main Street,” said Council Member Garrett West.
City staff said it was essentially a guarantee that cars would drive faster on Main Street once it returns to three lanes. That’s because drivers tend to match the speed of the road's design, not the speed limit.
The council members who voted to reverse the changes said their decision was based mostly on the city survey and on what they heard from residents.
“Are we conduits of the people we represent?” Council Member John Quinn asked. “Or do we ask people what they think, but go, ‘That's nice, but we know better.’”
City staff will begin working on the reconfiguration in the spring and expect to finish by the fall.
