My route and ride vary a little from day to day. It always involves a leisurely trip down First St. to Arlington Ave. and then I've got a lot of options.
One option involves a jog on the bike lanes on Arlington Ave. and then turn on Island Ave. and rolling past the post office and then through the Sienna's "parking lot". From any of these options I then get a choice of riding the river path all the way to Sparks or jumping on Mill St. in a minimal attempt to show drivers we do use the bike lanes.
Lately, however, I've been more and more interested in how city streets are laid out and which are given priority for improvement or which are ignored. The Sienna's parking lot used to be a section of Mill St. (in the recent past). They obviously made a deal with the city to create their parking lot across a city street.
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| A quick shot looking back at the Sienna "parking lot". |
My question is what rights did the city retain. The river path faces an an awkward jog at this point and right now requires a rider to dismount and utilize a stairway to continue into downtown. Could the city still impose rights for a path that runs through the Sienna parking lot? There's plenty of room and a rider could then utilize Island drive to get access to downtown. It might provide more connectivity and better flow for folks exploring town by bike. With all the imminent bridge construction coming up and modifications to the street crossings caused by the bridge design, now might be the perfect time to ask some of these questions.
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