Cyclist and trail advocates urge design changes for Monon and multiuse paths; council hears suggestions
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Summary
Speakers at the Carmel Common Council meeting urged clearer signage, enforcement and design fixes for cycle tracks and multiuse paths, citing safety incidents and missing paint on recently repaved segments; councilors noted the concerns will be taken up in committee work.
Cyclists and trail advocates on Monday asked the Carmel Common Council to address safety and enforcement gaps on the city's cycle tracks and multiuse paths, raising concerns about exemptions in a proposed code update and about missing pavement markings after recent repaving.
Jack Feldman told the council he reviewed ordinance D-27-69-25 and said one-way cycle tracks on Monon Boulevard were not addressed in the proposed text. Feldman said that omission could leave violations on those paths unenforceable and recounted being struck while riding on a multiuse concrete path; he said an officer told him he should not have been riding there because it was a sidewalk. "Maybe cars aren't looking for bikes on what appear to be sidewalks," Feldman said, and he urged short-term signage and longer-term design fixes such as continuous asphalt across driveway crossings.
Feldman also described a repaving on 116th Street west of Gray Road where lane paint, including the bike lane and solid yellow center line, was not repainted, creating confusion and encouraging motorists to occupy the bike lane.
Ron Carter, a former board member and executive director of the Indiana Greenways Foundation, urged the council to consider low-cost alternatives that use quiet residential streets to provide safe bicycle connectors rather than forcing a higher-cost direct path that could require property takings. He recommended expanding the Carmel Access Bikeways network and adding a short connecting asphalt segment to link existing quiet streets.
Councilors acknowledged the issues. Councilor Taylor and members of the land-use committee have been reviewing code related to cycle-track definitions and multiuse paths; Jack Feldman noted this topic was discussed at the committee level. No formal action was taken at the meeting beyond recording the public comments and committee work continuing on related ordinances.
Speakers urged near-term actions such as unified signage and repainting key lanes and longer-term design improvements to reduce conflicts between motorists and cyclists on shared routes.
