There’s a nice lull in the morning stream between June and the end of August. The morning commute gets a little breezier, the line at the coffee shop is a bit shorter and you can easily find a parking spot. Suddenly, it’s the Tuesday after Labor Day and they’re back. Yes, the students are back but it’s not just the students…it is everyone. Everyone is back! So take a deep breath and remember, this too shall pass.
For the next couple of weeks as everyone settles back into the routine, getting into, out of and around the City will take longer. A little patience and planning go a long way to making it all more bearable and safe for everyone. Try to build time into the routine to allow for the delay when you end up behind the bus or at the crosswalk where the kids are heading into school. Pay attention because you know the kids haven’t embraced the early morning routine yet and aren’t fully awake as they make their way to school and to bus stops. To parents, remind your kids to be safe when crossing the streets. If they are teenagers, remind them to pay attention, take the hoods and headphones off, put the phone back in the pocket, use cross walks appropriately and not jay walk. If everyone uses a little commonsense we can be assured a safe transistion into the school year.
Road Work Updates
The weekly “Road Work Update” is published on the City’s website here:
http://www.lowellma.gov/state-road-construction-projects-update-for-lowell
It is updated regularly with new information on the various construction projects around the city including university projects, state and city projects. The update can help you plan for your commute, whether it be extra time or an alternate route.
Bike Lanes/Sharrows
Ditch the car altogether and cycle in! Depending on where your commute takes you, you may have noticed new road markings on some of the roadways through the City. In an effort to make the city more bike friendly and safer, Lowell will further promote healthy transportation options by adding bike lanes and sharrows to 17 downtown and neighborhood streets. Sharrows refers to shared lanes refer to travel lanes shared by both bikes and cars and denoted by the painted bike symbol to the right and the map below. These improvements closely align with sustainable transportation policies at the statewide level which recently helped earn Massachusetts the rank of 3rd most “Bicycle Friendly State” in the nation.
The sharrows and bike lanes are wonderful. Thank you! I have also noticed that crosswalk and lane markings have been re-done they look very good. Is it possible to get sharrows on Pine Street, It is much smoother and easier to ride a bike on than Westford Street.