TOLEDO, Ohio —
A new rendering released by the city of Toledo shows what Broadway Street will look like once construction is complete during the summer of 2025.
The rendering shows bike lanes between traffic lanes and street parking spaces on what is normally a busy street in south Toledo.
"It's always thrilling news to hear that there are new bike lanes going in," said Steve Atkinson, president of the Toledo Bikes Board of Directors.
Atkinson says seeing the city continue to install new bike lanes is exciting. Over the summer, Erie Street in downtown Toledo was outfitted with bike new lanes, too.
But while Erie Street has protection for cyclists, that is not the case in the renderings for the Broadway Street project.
"There's a concern about this particular facility going in with the possibility of a door zone there in the bike lane," Atkinson explained.
That door zone is where drivers in parked cars risk opening their doors into approaching cyclists, hitting and knocking them off their bikes.
"When you have a bike lane right next to parked cars, the probability of someone opening a door is really high," Atkinson said.
Regardless, Atkinson says bicyclists need to be on high alert at all times and ensure they're visible to surrounding traffic.
"Cyclists are encouraged to anticipate this, to stay a certain distance away," Atkinson said. "It's recommended you stay to the left side of the lane."
WTOL 11 did bring those concerns to the city of Toledo.
A city spokesperson reassured that there would be a two-foot buffer strip lane between the bike lane and traffic lane from Stebbins Street to Walbridge Avenue, and a typical white stripe between the bike lane and traffic lane from Western to Walbridge.
The spokesperson said that due to street parking, the city cannot add white pole barriers.
WTOL 11 asked how it was possible on Erie Street but not Broadway Street. The city has not yet responded to that question.
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