The Port Alden City Council voted 5-2 Monday to set aside $2.3 million for protected bike lanes along Harbor Avenue, fulfilling a promise made after a cyclist was struck by a delivery van near the ferry terminal last October. The lanes will run 1.4 miles from the terminal to the intersection with Cedar Street, separated from traffic by a raised curb rather than paint.
The crash that prompted the project injured 34-year-old commuter Daniel Wren, who was riding to the 7 a.m. ferry when the van turned across the shoulder he was using. Wren spent six weeks recovering from a broken collarbone and pelvis and has attended nearly every council meeting since, asking for a physical barrier rather than another repainted line.
"I'm glad it's happening, but I wish it hadn't taken someone getting hurt to get here," Wren said after Monday's vote. "That road has needed this for fifteen years."
