Hartford residents urge council not to rollback bike lanes; speakers fault proposed study

Dozens of Hartford residents and civic leaders told the City Council on May 12 they oppose a recently introduced resolution, 2025-019, that would study removing or reconfiguring the city's bike lanes and other Complete Streets elements.

Speakers said the city's bicycle and traffic-calming work protects pedestrians and cyclists and urged the council to continue implementation rather than pause it for another study. "We should go forward with the plan that exists to continue the work that's being done," said Eitan Ehrlich, who described living and commuting without a car in other cities and urged Hartford to keep implementing Complete Streets improvements.

Those who testified cited safety and mobility concerns. Jay Stange, a Hartford-area resident who has worked with the Center for Latino Progress, told the council staff who produce Hartford's Complete Streets plans are "saving lives" and said the city's work responds to an ongoing safety problem: Stange cited a figure of about 43 people in the past decade who were killed or seriously injured while walking or bicycling in Hartford.

Many speakers described relying on bicycles or other non-car transportation. Susan Reynolds, who identified herself as a senior housing resident of Capitol Towers and Frog Hollow, said only about 40% of people in her neighborhood own a car and credited bike lanes with providing essential mobility for young people and some seniors. "A lot of kids... get to their jobs with a bike because it's what they've got to do," she said.

Other residents criticized the idea of a study that could lead to removing lanes. Paul Ashworth, a former city staffer, warned that the study's stated outcomes include diverting cyclists away from commercial corridors during business hours and said that approach would ignore residents who use bikes for daily needs. Casey Moran, who said she lives in Hartford, urged the council not to "undo something that we haven't even tried yet after a years-long public engagement process."

Speakers also invoked recent traffic deaths. Ashworth named two people, Beth Bosco and Nicholas Thompson, who were killed on Hartford streets in recent months and called changing direction now "the wrong way to go." Multiple bicyclists and commuters described near-misses, blocked painted lanes and aggressive driving.

Several speakers praised city staff who design and implement Complete Streets and urged the council to fund and support their work instead of launching a new review. Jay Stange said Hartford staff and the Complete Streets Task Force have brought top consultants to the city and produced work recognized outside Hartford. "The model that's been created by your staff here is recognized... as world-class work," he said.

Council action on resolution 2025-019 was not recorded during the public-comment period; speakers identified the measure by number and said it had been moved to committee. Multiple commenters asked the council to prioritize safety funding and to continue implementing the existing bicycle master plan rather than rolling back recent lane additions.

The public-comment period that produced these statements concluded before the council took a sequence of procedural votes during the regular meeting.

Ending: The council has not taken final public action on 2025-019 during the May 12 meeting; supporters and opponents asked the council to consider safety data and public engagement results before advancing any changes.