SUNY ESF
Bike Safety Plan

Euclid Avenue Bike Safety Plan

The Problem

Euclid Avenue is the main transportation corridor for students, faculty and staff cycling between WENA and SEUNA neighborhoods and Syracuse University and SUNY ESF. Currently, ~500 cyclists cross through the intersection of Comstock and Euclid every day during the spring and fall. However, the current street design is unsafe for cyclists and cars. Alternate street parking and unclear lane markings force cyclists to weave in and out of parked cars, risking traffic and people emerging from parked cars. There are have been several near misses and accidents between cars/buses and bikes and on Euclid Avenue. As cyclists who travel daily on this street, we believe something should be done to increase bike safety before a serious accident occurs.

What We Propose

We would like to start a conversation on how to improve safety on Euclid Avenue for cyclists and offer the following suggestions:

Redesign of Euclid Avenue Traffic Lanes

The options below lay out possible alternate designs for Euclid Avenue. They are meant to start the conversation on how to improve traffic flow and cycling safety. In order to allot space for bike lanes on both sides of the road, modifications to parking will be necessary.

The safest option by far is to 1) remove all parking and stripe to indicate wide dedicated bike lanes on both sides. Other options allow parking on one side only with striping to indicate narrower, but still dedicated bike lanes. Under this scenario, either 2) alternate block parking or 3) night only parking would facilitate snow removal in winter months.

Bike Boxes on Major Intersections

We suggest addition of bike boxes at key intersections to prioritize bike movement through the intersection. Doing this will greatly increase cyclist's safety by reducing "right hand hooks" into cyclists and will serve to direct cyclists as to safe and legal traffic movement. In order of priority: Comstock-Euclid/Sims, Westcott-Euclid, Lancaster-Euclid.

Outreach and Education

We also suggest outreach and education to support safe cycling techniques, especially reaching out to Centro to educate bus drivers. We also suggest initial enforcement of new traffic patterns to increase acceptance of the proposed plans.

If you support these suggestions to make Euclid Avenue safer for everyone, please sign our petition.

This petition will be presented to decision makers in Syracuse, at Syracuse University and at SUNY ESF to start a conversation about how to improve safety on Euclid Avenue for cyclists, drivers and pedestrians.