Letter: West Shore isn't safe for cyclists
A truck passes under the 12 foot 6 inch clearance at the LIRR bridge on West Shore Road on Tuesday in Mill Neck, New York. (July 24, 2012) Credit: Howard Schnapp
Your article "Questions stall shore road repair" [News, July 31] quotes Nassau County Department of Public Works spokesman Mike Martino as saying that "bicycles are currently able to safely use the roadway shoulders" of West Shore Road in Mill Neck.
This was not the case when I was driving along West Shore Road to Bayville recently. There was no shoulder on some parts of the road and bicycles were forced to ride on the narrow curving road, which has only one lane in each direction. Two bicycles were in front of me and I had to slow down to their speed because it was unsafe to try to pass them.
A safe, divided-off bicycle path is very much needed. We should encourage bicycling as an alternative to gasoline-fueled, air-polluting cars as much as possible.
Eleanor Krebs, Farmingdale
