The Scottsdale City Council (SCC) has been approving plans to eliminate lanes on roads in the city and replace them with bicycle lanes, known as “road diets.”
This is causing a wave of concern from Scottsdale residents over the increasing traffic congestion. A road diet approved last March particularly angered residents since it was in the city’s popular Old Town entertainment district. Mason Gates, one of the candidates running for the SCC this year, has prioritized opposition to them.
Gates spoke at an SCC meeting on Tuesday against road diets. He said he discussed with a business owner near the Old Town road diet, who said he was not consulted in preliminary talks before the SCC decided to construct a road diet there. Protect Scottsdale reported that 23 business owners in the vicinity signed a petition opposing the road diet, but their concerns were dismissed. According to Gates, Rich Bonura, the owner of BEG Bakery, told him “he often sees buses, semi-trucks, and other vehicles parked in the bike lane that is intended for cyclists. This can pose a grave danger for cyclists who need to avoid parked vehicles by swerving into traffic lanes where drivers may not expect to see them.”
The same council members have also come under fire for voting for new high-density developments. Gates said during his speech, “If the same council members voting in favor of high density developments are also prioritizing the reduction of traffic lanes, I have to ask, what are we doing here?”
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