I don't think anything was done to make East Mifflin a through street. It's always existed, and always ended at that parking lot east of Dickinson. I believe it was the increase in suburban, exurban, and all forms of motorist commuting that made the two main drags (Johnson-Gorham and East Wash) more congested. Local people started using East Mifflin and they too noticed relatively few stop signs--I believe none between Baldwin and Paterson. So the city installed the only traffic calming they seemed to know at the time--stop signs. It's still a good bicycle boulevard, as long as you are willing to blow through stop signs assuming there is no cross-traffic, which usually there isn't. We've been advocating a bicycle boulevard there (and on Kendall on the west side) for over a decade.
"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong."--Voltaire (1694-1778) Direct Cost of U.S. War and Occupation of Iraq $496,885,238,875 >>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 3/4/2008 3:47 PM >>> One prime location for a bike boulevard on the east side is E. Mifflin - apparently, this was made a thru-street a decade or so ago with the intention of providing a residential route downtown for bicyclists, but motor-vehicle traffic picked up significantly and created a problem for the neighborhood. This is why E. Mifflin is one stop sign after another today. If this street could be treated as a bike boulevard, I expect it could successfully become the downtown route of choice for type-B bicyclists coming in on the NE isthmus. E. Mifflin could be a great connection between the Yahara path and downtown, with the added benefit of serving Lapham School. On my daughter's first day of school just about every parent from our bus stop biked over to the school after their kids got on the bus - taking the Yahara path, then getting onto E. Mifflin. I believe the demand is there for a Bike Boulevard. Considering that nearly 70% of local road costs are paid for by local municipalities via property taxes (libertarians like Ron Paul don't seem to understand this), I see no need to fund this exclusively with local funds. _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
