COVINGTON, Ky. — In the days after two deadly hit-and-run crashes involving bicyclists, leaders are coming up with common sense solutions to make roads safer.
Matt Butler, president of the Devou Good Foundation, said he’s ridden a bicycle for thousands of miles over the years. He described the landscape for bicyclists on Northern Kentucky roads as very challenging.
"Very dangerous — we have to pick and choose our routes to be careful,” he said.
The Devou Good Foundation works with nonprofits and local governments to bring resources they may need. Butler said the majority of their work focuses on active transportation issues like bicyclists, people using wheelchairs or pedestrians.
His focus now is on shifting a mindset.
“For 100 years, our priorities have been to get drivers through neighborhoods as quickly as possible. It can be solved with engineering, but we need the will of the people behind us,” he said.
Early Saturday morning, police said Gloria San Miguel was killed in a hit-and-run crash. She was riding a bike on the 11th Street Bridge from Newport to Covington.
Emily Webster worked with her at Roebling Point Books & Coffee in Covington, saying she knows the dangers both the Fourth Street, and 11th Street bridges bring to bicyclists.
“The bridge doesn’t have bike lanes. It’s also difficult visibility. The bridge is very steep,” she said. “We need to put design things in place that simply allow everyone to be traveling together.”
Butler said they have a solution. Now, they just need the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to approve it.
That plan would be to take one lane on each bridge and create a two-way protected bike lane. The water wall barriers would provide a safe lane of travel for bicyclists.
“We think this is a very easy solution, an engineered solution," Butler said. "It’s material that they’re familiar with — they commonly use. It’s rated for these types of roadways. It’s safe for drivers, and for people walking and biking."
Butler said the Devou Good Foundation will pay for the setup, and it would take one day to build for both bridges.
He shared an email thread between the Devou Good Foundation and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. In it, an engineer said with a letter of support from Newport and Covington, that KYTC would paint “share the road” on the road.
“Their response has been, 'We’ll put some paint down,'" Butler said. "Our response to that is paint isn’t protection. It’s a little frustrating, but we’re not giving up."
WCPO 9 News has asked for comment from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to find out what, if any, alternatives can be put in place. As of Monday evening, we have yet to hear back.
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