Coming soon: A first-of-its-kind bike lane in Worcester. Here's what to know

WORCESTER — Drivers and residents on Mill Street have noticed a few new lines marking the pavement over the past few weeks.

The city is redesigning the street to make it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists and to reduce speeding.

The redesign creates parking-protected bike lanes on both sides of the 2.5-mile street. The design reconfigures one of the two driving lanes on each side of the 1.8-mile, four-lane portion of the street into a bike lane, with painted parking lanes buffering it from the remaining vehicle travel lane.

"We know that lanes that are excessively wide contribute to higher vehicle speeds and we know that having more lanes than are necessary to reasonably accommodate the traffic does the same," Stephen Rolle, commissioner of the city's Department of Transportation and Mobility, said.

Rolle said the lane reduction will result in this segment matching the portions at either end of the street that approach Park Avenue or Tatnuck Square.

Todd Kirrane, assistant director of transportation and mobility, said the city expects to have the redesign wrapped up within the next two weeks. A pedestrian beacon signal will then be installed in front of the Mill Swan Head Start school to improve pedestrian safety.

Mill Street has become notorious for crashes

Mill Street is infamous on the West Side for motorists speeding down the corridor and has been the site of crashes and pedestrians being struck.

Another pedestrian was hit on the street late last week.

A spokesperson for Worcester police said the unidentified pedestrian was struck at about 7 p.m. Friday and transported to the hospital with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries. Witnesses told police a dark-colored SUV struck the victim and fled the scene.

The crash remains under investigation.

Monday, a chilly fall afternoon, Mill Street had light vehicle traffic and few people using the sidewalks. A few cars were parked in the designated parking lanes while others were visibly parked where the bike lane is supposed to be.

Signage has been posted on the redesigned lane to denote where drivers can park and where the bike lane is. The city has also shared informational graphics about the redesign on social media.

A bicyclist could be seen making use of the new designated bike lane.

Rolle said the parking-protected bike lane redesign is the first of its kind in Worcester but has become common in other cities.

Kirrane said similar configurations with similar lane signage have been used in communities including Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline.

"We didn't reinvent the wheel here," Kirrane said.

The street carries about 8,000 to 11,000 vehicles a day, depending on the portion that is being observed, Rolle said. He said that number is well within the normal range of traffic for a street with one lane in each direction.

Official: Reducing vehicle lanes will address speeding

The multilane segment created a situation where drivers may travel faster due to the open lanes, lighter traffic and a relative lack of traffic control signage, Rolle said.

"It's just a through shot right along the corridor," Rolle said.

The commissioner said data has found that travel speeds on the two-lane portions of Mill Street do not deviate much from the speed limit, while speeds in the multilane portions are about 10 mph faster than the speed limit with more than 15% of traffic going 45 mph or faster.

Lane markings are close to completion on the northbound side of the roadway heading toward Tatnuck Square, while more work is needed for the markings on the southbound side.

Rolle said he noticed cars on the northbound side are hewing closer to the speed limit while cars heading south are still weaving between lanes and driving at speeds well into the 40s and 50s.

Not everyone happy about Mill Street redesign

The Mill Street redesign has been the subject of a small political controversy during the recently wrapped municipal election cycle.

In July, residents complained that they had learned about the redesign only after resurfacing work had begun.

District 5 council candidate José Rivera asked the Standing Committee on Traffic and Parking to hold a public hearing on Mill Street. Saying that an informational session was already being scheduled, the City Council ended consideration of his petition and the informational session was held later in the month.

The redesign is being funded with local and state money. This sentence has been corrected. The source of the funding has been changed.

Sidewalks remain an issue

While sidewalks have been part of the discussion of a redesign, money for them had not been earmarked in July, City Manager Eric D. Batista said at the time. Mill Street includes several patches of rough sidewalk that present mobility challenges.

Rolle said the city acknowledges more work needs to be done on Mill Street other than the lane markings.

There have also been posts on West Side community social media pages expressing confusion and anger at the redesign, as well as fears that drivers may accidentally hit parked cars in the new lanes.

Rolle said it is important to educate the public about the reasons for the redesign and how to use the parking lane. The city will also put flyers on parked cars about the proper use of the street.

The commissioner said he will welcome feedback from residents about their experiences on Mill Street and a period of getting accustomed to the redesign will be important after its completion.

"I think it's important that people give it a little bit of time for folks to acclimate," Rolle said.

The city will monitor the street for speeding and crashes in comparison to the old design.

For cars that park in the new bike lanes, Rolle said the approach will be similar to how it recently handled a crackdown on sidewalk parking. There will be a period where cars parked in bike lanes will receive a flyer explaining how to properly park on the street followed by enforcement through ticketing.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester creates first no-parking bike lanes on Mill Street