By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — Other than the new widened sidewalk on the east side, it’s been pretty much business as usual on North Avenue between Veterans Field and Quannapowitt Parkway.
But that may turn out to be the calm before the storm.
In the next few weeks, the roadway lanes will be narrowed and reconfigured to accommodate a five-foot wide bike lane and a three-foot-wide buffer zone on the east side of North Avenue.
Then come the flex posts.
The flexible posts separating the automobile travel lane and the bike lane will be deployed once the re-striping of the roadway is done, likely in mid to late-October.
Town Engineer William Renault was in front of the Town Council Monday night to provide an update on the North Avenue work. He explained that there had been delays in accomplishing some of the drainage and other work that needed to be finished before the road could be re-striped for the bike lane. For that reason, Renault recommended waiting until the spring to install the flex posts, since they would need to be removed for the winter anyway to facilitate snow plowing operations.
But Town Councilor Edward Dombroski wanted the flex posts to be installed in the fall, even if it’s only for a short period of time.
“I don’t think most residents have any idea what they’re in for on North Avenue,” he said, adding that the flex posts should be installed this fall, if only for a few weeks, so the town can get feedback from the community.
“I fully expect significant input from the community,” he said, in what may turn out to be a vast understatement.
Councilor Douglas Butler said the thought that the public reaction would come from the bike lanes themselves, with or without the flex posts.
Councilor John Carney maintained that the residents of North Avenue have “no clue” what’s coming. He also said that the Farmers Market will also experience the impact of the bike lane next spring, noting that up to 50 cars now park on the side of North Avenue along Hall Park every Saturday morning.
Councilor Jonathan Chines advocated giving the DPW discretion to decide whether it makes sense to install the flex posts for a short period, once the street is re-striped, or wait until spring.
Butler said that he was fine waiting until spring to put up the posts, insisting that any public reaction will be driven by the bike lane more than the flex posts themselves.
Dombroski disagreed, arguing that the flex posts will change the visual perspective of drivers and magnify the the impact of the bike lane.
He didn’t want people to get the impression that the project is finished once the re-striping for the bike lane is done. Withholding the posts until the spring would not give residents a true picture of what’s in store, he argued, noting
that the plan was always to put the flex posts up for a short time in the fall to gather feedback.
He predicted that it would take “about 48 hours” for the town to hear from the public.
“I think we’re going to hear that people hate them,” Dombroski said.
Chairman Michael McLane agreed with Butler that the biggest issue is going to be the bike lane itself, but he also agreed with Dombroski that it was better to give the public the full picture sooner rather than later.
Since the re-striping of the road is still weeks from being done, Chines suggested holding off on a decision on when to deploy the flex posts.
That prompted Dombroski to observe that the councilors who were most in favor of the flex poles now seemed to be against putting them up.
Councilor Mehreen Butt took exception to Dombroski “assuming” how other councilors would vote.
In the end, six councilors voted to put the flex posts up later this fall. Chines abstained from voting.
