BUCYRUS — Bucyrus City Council heard from Bruce Brandstetter on the installation of a bike lane on North Sandusky Avenue from Perry Street to the industrial park.
Brandstetter said the bike lanes would use the existing curbs, the road would not be made bigger, and there will be no loss of turn lanes. To have bike lanes, there would be no parking along North Sandusky Avenue from Perry Street to the industrial district.
The bike lanes would be separated from traffic with a six-inch stripe along the road. Council discussed adding a rumble strip, but no decision was reached.
To enforce that these lanes are used appropriately, council member Doug Foght suggested doing what Catawaba Island does and implementing a fine that is greater in amount than one that someone would receive for crossing double yellow lines while driving when they are caught.
Bucyrus native Kurt Fankhauser addressed the council based on his concerns about the bike lanes going in on a road with such heavy traffic.
Fankhauser suggested that the sidewalks be redone, or that the ordinance forbidding the usage of bikes on sidewalks be changed. Council stated this would not happen.
Fankhauser suggested that the council ask the employees in the industrial park if they would use the bike lanes instead of assuming they will be used, therefore eliminating parking and putting the bike lanes alongside a busy and dangerous road.
Council stated that they received no negative feedback on the Facebook page when they proposed the idea of bike lanes to residents. Fankhauser said Facebook should not count because he has gone to the council before with information that he had received on Facebook, and council said information gathered on Facebook will not be considered.
Council originally was supposed to have proposed legislation to the Ohio Department of Transportation by Dec. 14 but are afraid that the it may be too soon. It was proposed that this topic be discussed at a public hearing Dec. 13 with the time of that meeting to be released sometime on Dec. 5.
There will be a joint committee meeting Thursday at 6:30 p.m.