At the risk of getting sucked into a whole lot of “Bike Lane taffy” and getting backed into corners and having people scream at me, I thought I would remind folks that there is an exhaustive “High Street Bike Lanes Frequently Asked Questions and Responses” put out by the City of Newburyport.

The “Bike Lane FAQ” can be found on the High Street website, www.historic-highstreet.org. The High Street website link is on the sidebar of the Newburyport Political Blog under “Helpful Links.”

The link to the FAQ can be found on the High Street Home Page as well as under “Reference Documents” (1. High Street’s Master Plan – Planning documents and bike lane FAQs 2004.)

You can also go directly to the FAQ here: Bike Lane FAQ and Responses.

Here are the questions that are asked:

1) What is a bike lane, and who is permitted to use them?

2) Can drivers cross the white line into the bike lane?

3) Can cars or trucks park in the bike lanes?

4) Are the new marked travel lanes wide enough for cars and trucks?

5) Aren’t the bike lanes too close to the traffic?

6) The lanes look funny to me; why are they sometimes out in the middle of the road?

7) Was there a public process the City followed leading up to installing the bike lanes?

8) Was it necessary to stripe the bike lanes on High Street – wasn’t everything fine before?

9) Why don’t the bike lanes continue the whole distance of the street? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?

10) Do bicyclists have to use the bike lanes?

11) Why not put all bicyclists on the sidewalk instead of the street?

12) Why not put the bike lane on the inside of the parked cars?

13) How do the bike lanes affect traffic?

14) How do you get bicyclists to obey the laws?

15) How long will the bike lane markings last?

16) Are there any other bike lanes planned in the City?

And here are the answers.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport