The retired couple wanted to bring a touch of modern New York City to Pasadena’s streets.

No, not more skyscrapers, Uber drivers or Cronut shops. They are talking about bike lanes, an alternative transportation amenity that — believe it or not — has made New York City a surprise leader in bike transportation.

Sharing the road

As two of the 75 people who attended a workshop Thursday night at Pasadena City Hall on designs for a protected bike lane on Union Street, Mikel and Joe Witte remember riding the bike lanes along Second and Ninth avenues, two of the first bike roadways in that city, now part of a network totaling 1,217 miles. They moved from NYC to Pasadena just a year ago.

“There was this feeling of security, of having a raised edge to separate your from a car. We relaxed and you felt like you were safe,” said Mikel Witte, who often rides bikes with her husband, a consultant at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena.

New York’s transformation didn’t come easy: The Wittes remember the opposition, from taxi drivers and others. In fact, the introduction of bike lanes — which can take away vehicle lanes — sparked some of the most contentious battles in New York history beginning in 2007.

In her book, “Street Fight,” Janette Sadik-Khana, a city transportation commissioner who led the charge, tells of packed meetings and screaming headlines from New York tabloids, labeling the addition of protected bike lanes “New York City’s Public Enemy No. 1.”

While vocal opposition shot down a bike lane proposal last fall on the east-west section of Orange Grove Avenue, this time, the meetings have evoked a more constructive tone.

“Overall we are getting great support for the project,” said Joaquin Siques, principal traffic engineer, as the meeting was winding down.

Residents make suggestions

On Thursday, residents and shopkeepers pored over maps showing a 60% completed design of a $6.9-million, two-way cycle track on the south side of Union Street between Arroyo Parkway and Hill Street. The idea is to bring more bicycle riders to Union and connect with Caltech, Pasadena City College as well as restaurants, book stores and movie theaters in the city’s downtown.

Public input will be used to reach 90% design status by fall, and completion soon after, said Ashley Haire, senior engineer with Toole Design. The final design will be submitted to Caltrans for approval, a process that may take a full year, she said. Construction could begin in December 2020 with completion in late 2021.

Because Union is mostly a five-lane, one-way westbound street, removing one through lane is very doable, Siques said. Also, the volume of vehicles is way below the street’s capacity, city reports show.

Through raised medians, planters and green paint at driveways and intersections, cyclists will ride in a protected space. The project would include four new traffic signals and also bicycle traffic signals at every intersection.

One of the bigger concerns is whether motorists exiting parking lots onto Union are able to see bicyclers traveling in both directions. Haire said the protected lane would be slightly raised to increase visibility.

Haire and city officials took a walking tour of the proposed bicycle track with representatives of the Playhouse District. Brian Wallace, executive director of the Playhouse District Association, attended the Thursday night meeting.

“We were asking about safety, and the comfort factor,” he said. “People coming here are not as familiar with Pasadena,” he said during an interview.

He said the reduction in street parking to add right-and left-turn pockets and the bike lane “may not be that severe,” though a final analysis is pending.

Disabled access studied

Cy Estabrook, a volunteer representative for Mayor Terry Tornek, who is confined to a wheelchair, said he is concerned about paratransit buses which transport the elderly and disabled exiting passengers on the street side of the bike lane. Cars driving around the bus would increase the possibility of an accident.

“We are trying to come up with a workaround,” he said. He is mapping out the best unloading spots on Union and will communicate those to drivers, he said.

With a designated space for riding a bike, some say it will get rogue cyclists off the sidewalks and hammer home the rules of the road. “Bike lanes make bike riders safe, but they also teach them how to be safe,” said Nenetzin Rodriguez, who works for Day One in Pasadena, a nonprofit that advocates for healthy cities. “And it also keeps cars safe, too.”

New York City experienced 10 cyclists deaths in 2018, a drop from 24 the previous year, a record low.

For more information, contact Donson Liu, associate transportation engineer by dialing 626-744-7672 or by email, dliu@cityofpasadena.net. Residents can add comments on an interactive WikiMap.