The Grimes City Council has approved an ordinance prohibiting bicycle riders from a two-mile stretch on South James Street.
There
was no discussion by council members on the item Tuesday night.
Councilman Craig Patterson abstained because of a conflict of interest,
and Tom Shatava voted against it.
Two members of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition were present for the final vote. No one commented to the council.
Mayor Tom Armstrong said the new ordinance puts Grimes in line with other metro-area communities.
“The
big thing to keep in mind is that it’s a very small subset that we’re
talking about and we’re doing it for safety reasons,” he said.
Cyclists
have objected to the amendment, saying the change sets a precedent for
other cities to remove bikes from the road in contradiction of Iowa law.
The
city amendment states: “Whenever a useable path for bicycles has been
provided adjacent to a roadway, bicycle riders shall use such path and
shall not use the roadway known as South James Street from south sports
complex to the south city limits of Grimes.”
Grimes resident Josh Jones, 36, an avid bicyclist, was also at the meeting.
The
change “kind of creates confusion of who has rights to the road,” Jones
said. “Rules like this create this misconception that we should be off
the road.”
Jones has heard at bicycle forums a lot of discussion
from people talking about boycotting Grimes businesses. He said he
doesn’t necessarily agree with that.
“But we have to recognize that it’s out there and it’s an infringement on cyclists’ rights,” he said.
Armstrong
said he thinks that facts about the ordinance have been skewed and that
it’s important to remember it’s only a two-mile stretch of road.
No
end date for the restriction was written into the amendment. The hope
is to have it lifted when South James Street is expanded into a
four-lane road, an upgrade that has not been scheduled.
South James Street becomes 128th Street in Urbandale.
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