FEEDBACK: Retrofit for bike lane would be bad

To the editor:

If we repeat it often enough, it must be true! In the case of the Legare Bridge retrofit, a bike path at the cost of a traffic lane adds an unhealthy increase in commuting time to those using the Maybank to Folly corridor as well as the entire Folly Rd corridor.

The August 2015 presentation to the community was both condescending and statistically off-the-wall. How could anyone give credence to a graph over 40 years with only two data points to show no traffic growth on the bridge?

The so-called test did not record the facts of the increased time for James Island commuters. The details for the crossings and bike paths on Albemarle Road as well as the crossing of bikes at Wesley Drive and Folly Road are certainly problematic. Take a drive down Albemarle Road and have a look at where the bike path is to go not only on Albemarle Rd., but also between two businesses. Albemarle Road and Croghan’s Spur are very busy thoroughfares without room for a safe bike lane or crossing from the yet to be completed extension of the Greenway.

The reason Councilmen [Keith] Waring and [Bill] Moody persist in their efforts to kill this bad plan is because their constituents are pressing them to do so. This bike path is not only a bad idea but is also a poorly designed project that benefits a tiny part of our community.

Andy, you’ve got this one wrong. Not all bike paths are good!

A poorly-conceived and a badly-designed bike path damages health with longer commutes and won’t exist long enough to recover its costs (which rise with each new estimate).

— Alan Hopkins, James Island, S.C.

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