Palm Beach Post: Cyclists, state weigh in on A1A bicycle lanes

A group of bicyclists wants the state to go back and build 4- to 5-foot bike lanes on sections of State Road A1A that were resurfaced in the past few years and to include them on future projects along the oceanside road. The state, however, still maintains it’s not doing anything wrong in not putting bike lanes along the entire 27-mile stretch of A1A from Palm Beach to Boca Raton and wants a hearing officer to toss out the cyclists’ suit. The two sides outlined their wishes in proposed orders filed this week.

Hearing officer Ananth Prasad, the Florida Department of Transportation’s chief engineer, is expected to issue a ruling in about a month. Highland Beach bicyclist Bruce Rosenzweig along with the Boca Raton Bicycle Club and the League of American Bicyclists sued in March, after the state refused to justify why it did not include standard-width bike lanes while repaving A1A.

Both parties agreed to an informal hearing, but the decision can be appealed in court. The cyclists’ case is simple: They want the DOT to acknowledge that its design manuals require designated bike lanes and build the widest-width bike lanes on A1A where there is sufficient public land. DOT’s decision to put in 3-foot shoulders instead of the bike lanes was based solely on talks and compromises with local cities, attorney Lawrence Silverman said in the proposed order.

Homeowners were concerned the extra asphalt would destroy landscaping, walls, driveways and gates, including those in the DOT right of way. The 3-foot shoulders would not improve vehicle or bike safety and were designed solely for road stability, even though A1A is one of the most-traveled bike routes in the area, Silverman said. A count showed as many as 586 bikers using A1A during a four-hour period.

But DOT attorney Erik Fenniman said the state has the discretion to put in bike lanes, based on the consideration of many factors, including cost and local sentiment. A state report found that the additional cost of a continuous 5-foot bike lane would be nearly $50 million. Fenniman also disputed that bikers would “suffer a unique and direct injury not shared by the general population” if bike lanes were not built.

Cyclists are not the exclusive users of A1A and lack the standing to challenge the state, he argued. The only place where full 5-foot bike lanes are planned is on the east side of A1A in Delray Beach. No widening is slated in Gulf Stream, where state law protects the Australian pines that line the road.