In his Nov. 5 Community Commentary about the Chandler Bikeway (“Bike speed limit not required”), John Gaskill makes a number of assertions, most of which are wrong. Instead of a long fact-versus-fiction list, I’ll say this:
The Chandler Bikeway is a dangerous place. Its very design and creation guaranteed that. There are two primary reasons:
One, it invites and encourages a diverse and concentrated group of users, some of whom are traveling much faster than the others, and this creates an inevitable intermixing and colliding of the groups.
And two, although the place is called a “Bikeway,” the lanes are in the pathway to indicate use — not command it. No law requires people to stay between certain lines. The plan assumed goodwill and cooperation, which was pre-designed by the meandering shape, the soft curves with park-like lawns and trees that suggest a place of leisurely enjoyment, slow comfortable pace and social interaction — not speed. It assumed that speed-cyclists would stay in the street where they belonged and always were.
