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Chester County Press

Bike paths on Pennsylvania side are lacking

08/13/2014 10:37AM ● By Lev

As a road biker, and a resident who lives near Route 52, I have waited anxiously for years for the construction of the “bike path.”

Although I appreciate all of the efforts put into this project, I must honestly express my disappointment in the end result. I had anticipated a bikeway similar to what the state of Delaware constructed on Route 52, right across the state line. Much wider and safer than an ordinary berm, with bicycle graphics, Delaware did a superb job producing wide, smooth and contiguous paths on both sides of the road.

In Kennett, all it seems was done was repair of some very damaged areas of the berm. Yes, a definite improvement, but in some places the side of the road is actually narrower than before. Also, the parts of the road not improved have cracks, slopes, etc. that are not very road-bike-friendly. In my opinion, if Kennett could not have afforded to smoothly construct and widen/improve both sides of the road, similar in appearance to bike paths in other states, then perhaps they should have waited until they had the funds to do so. There is still a pothole in the Mendenhall area that is very dangerous to road bikers. Again, kudos to the thought and efforts in planning but more of both should have been employed to have a contiguous, well-constructed and most importantly, safe, area in which to bike that offered more than just a spottily repaired berm.


Carol

letter sent to Chestercounty.com.