Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee votes to remove 'nuisance' stop signs on multiuse paths, keeps signs at major crossings

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee on Nantucket voted on Dec. 19, 2024, to send a set of recommendations to the select board and town public-safety staff asking the town to remove numerous “nuisance” stop signs on multiuse bike and pedestrian paths while retaining stop controls at several crossings it judged to be major or hazardous.

The move follows the committee’s review of a spreadsheet of crossings compiled by member Michelle Kramer. Ian Goldin, chair of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, summarized the legal framework the group used in its deliberations, citing a 2021 provision the committee referenced as “Article 76”: “At any location in which a multiuse shared path intersects with or is crossed by a public or private way ... bicyclists, pedestrians, and other users in the path shall have the right of way, and any person operating a motor vehicle shall stop and yield such bicycles, pedestrian, or other user,” Goldin said in the meeting.

Why it matters: committee members said many stop signs on the path had become distractions that make cyclists ignore signs that govern truly hazardous crossings. The panel argued that removing unnecessary stop signs and replacing…