NEW ORLEANS — You don’t often hear about a push to remove infrastructure, but that’s exactly what’s happening in Algiers right now.
It’s been less than two years since bike lanes went up on Newton Street and MacArthur Boulevard. Both came with plastic bollards, better known as “flex posts,” that separate bikers from the cars driving by. Since they’ve gone up, they’re also dividing the community.
Now, the debate on whether they should stay on these streets is coming to a vote. On Thursday, the New Orleans City Council will vote on an ordinance by Councilmember Freddie King on whether those two specific bike lanes should stay or go.
“Bike lanes aren’t the same in every neighborhood and I think this is evident of that,” King said in an Aug. 29 committee meeting. “What works for Uptown, Esplanade, Gentilly, doesn’t work for every neighborhood.”
The lanes have been controversial since they were installed in 2021. Some neighbors say they're a nuisance, snarling traffic, blocking parking and failing to make the street any safer.
“We still see accidents out there daily,” one Algiers resident said at the city council meeting. “I don’t believe the numbers (of accidents) have gone down at all.”
Advocates with the group Bike Easy say there are obvious benefits to these – and all bike lanes: Safer bikers, safer cars and safer streets.
“I think it’s crazy,” Allene La Spina, Acting Excutive Director of Bike Easy, said. “I think that it’s a step backward and I think that even though the focus right now is just in one district, it will set a precedent that affects the whole network.”
Councilmember King says that’s not the case.
“This is not about Esplanade, St. Claude, East Bank, Lakeview, Mid-City, MLK, there’s people saying I’m trying to take away bike lanes in Gentilly, that’s not even my district,” King said. “I’m talking about 2.2 miles: MacArthur and Newton Street.”
The vote will happen during Thursday’s City Council regular meeting. Advocates on both sides of the debate are encouraging people to come to the council chambers to comment before the vote.
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