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Residents press council for quick pedestrian and bike‑lane fixes after crashes; administration says budget includes measures
Summary
Multiple residents urged immediate, low‑cost safety fixes at Hilliard Triangle and other Lakewood intersections. City officials said the budget and project planning include safety measures and Councilmember Bullock signaled he will propose additional funding for rapid interventions.
Residents on Jan. 6 urged Lakewood City Council to make immediate, low‑cost changes to make streets safer for pedestrians and people who bike, citing recent crashes including one in which a local resident was struck in a bike lane.
Why it matters: several speakers described repeated collisions at specific intersections and urged the council and administration to adopt short‑term physical separations (bollards, flex posts, rubber curbing) and signal improvements while longer capital projects proceed. Councilmembers and the administration said public safety is a budget and planning priority and indicated they will pursue near‑term fixes as well as larger projects.
What residents said A series of public commenters described crashes in the Hilliard Triangle area and at Madison/Hilliard and other spots. One resident, who identified himself as a friend of a crash victim, said the victim “was hit by a car in the bike lane” and questioned why insurers apportioned half the fault; the speaker called the number of collisions “atrocious.”
Another commenter, Ryan Ream, described cars entering the bike lane to queue for a right turn and said separation is simple and affordable: “I beg of you, I please, to have some separation on those bike lanes.”
Organizers with neighborhood groups said they have researched low‑cost treatments and nonprofit crash‑analysis studios and invited the city to partner on rapid reviews of problem intersections.
Administration and council response Mayor’s office and public‑safety leadership told the council they have been working on active‑transportation and safety measures and said the budget includes funding for both incremental and larger‑scale improvements. In response to a question about near‑term action, an administration official said, “the succinct answer is yes,” and stated the city’s work on safety is ongoing across public safety, planning and public works teams.
Councilmember Bullock said he plans to propose funding this year for quick, removable safety interventions in addition to the larger Bunce Road and other capital projects. Councilmembers said the Bunce Road project already includes traffic‑safety elements, and they emphasized a two‑track approach: immediate low‑cost fixes where possible and larger, multimodal redesigns through capital projects.
What was not decided Council did not vote on specific hardware or locations at the Jan. 6 meeting. The administration’s affirmation that safety work is budgeted does not specify particular installations, timelines or dollar amounts for the short‑term fixes. Residents and neighborhood groups urged a clear public‑facing plan for near‑term actions.
Selected quotes “We know these fixes. We know how to do them. They’re low cost,” one resident said during public comment. “I beg of you, I please, to have some separation on those bike lanes,” Ryan Ream told council. “The succinct answer is yes,” an administration official said when asked whether the city can act this year on shorter‑term safety measures.
Next steps Councilmembers and the administration said they will continue to work together on incremental safety measures and on larger capital projects that include traffic‑safety components. Neighborhood groups said they will offer data and participate in crash‑analysis reviews; Councilmember Bullock said he would propose funding for quick interventions during the current budget cycle.
