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Cambridge City Council votes to add more 'protected' bike lanes

The Cambridge City Council voted Monday to add more "protected" bike lanes, aimed at shielding drivers from cyclists and vice versa.

Zipping through Western Avenue with ease, cyclists take advantage of dedicated, protected bike lanes.

Cambridge Mayor Marc McGovern proposed a bike safety ordinance that would add the protected bike lanes to all future reconstructed streets.

"Are we ever going to get to a point where there's never going to be an accident? I think that's unrealistic," McGovern said. "Accidents happen, but at the very least, we should be providing the infrastructure to decrease that possibility as much as we possibly can.”

Safety advocate Sam Feigenbaum's input helped shape the proposal that the Cyclists Union says is a safety measure that's not only a Cambridge first, but a first in the nation.

"I’m trying to save lives," Feigenbaum said. "I got involved with this issue because my mom bikes to work everyday, and I got tired of calling her to make sure she was alive.”

Advocates like Feigenbaum have pushed hard for protected lanes.

Meanwhile, police say crash numbers involving cyclists are dropping, with 189 in 2016, 159 in 2017 and 144 in 2018. The last cyclist death was in November of 2018, and before that, Cambridge Police said the previous one was 2016.

Drivers say there are so many cyclists in Cambridge, it takes a lot to safely share the road -- even when they try.

"You really have to keep your eye out," one driver said. "Having these designated lanes, I think would be a great thing.”

Though other city residents feel the new measure was rushed.

"We shouldn't, I don't think, be talking about a bicycle plan that I don't think has been well-vetted across the city," one resident said.

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