By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer
Byron Orlando Sandoval Lopez, 42, was cycling home on the St. Claude Avenue Bridge when a minivan hit him from behind, flinging him into the moving traffic that took his life. Kory Schenck, 26, was walking his bicycle across the Seabrook Bridge when a car fatally struck him. William Eddington, 64 was biking across Broad Street on Ursulines Avenue, moving against oncoming traffic, when a collision killed him.
In all three instances, drivers told police they didn’t see the cyclists until it was too late.
These three New Orleans deaths provide a window into one of the city’s more insistent – and overlooked — safety hazards: dangerous traffic conditions for bicyclists. Bike down most streets in New Orleans and chances are you will dodge unlit intersections, potholes big enough to eat a tire, wheel-tripping horizontal grates and designated bike lanes several inches too narrow for safe passage. Even the most map-savvy travelers have a tough time finding bike-friendly streets to carry them all the way across town. And if you’re bicycling after dark and have to cross a bridge, as Lopez and Schenck tried to do, you’re facing the most high-risk scenario of all.
Earlier this month, Councilwoman Kristin Palmer won unanimous approval from the City Council for an ordinance that establishes a “Complete Streets” program at City Hall. Complete Streets is a national movement to encourage road design that prioritizes the needs of cyclists, pedestrians, transit users and people with disabilities. Much like Complete Streets regulations passed in cities such as Charlotte, N.C., Tupelo, Miss., and Rockville, Md., the Palmer-authored ordinance requires the city’s Public Works Department to work with the City Planning Commission to create design standards and policies that promote walking, biking and transit usage and that comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under the ordinance, planners must consider amenities such as bike lanes, crosswalks, traffic-calming measures, curb cuts, street and sidewalk lighting and other “targeted pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements.”
The following photo essay is a look at the cyclists who stand to benefit from the new policy. They were photographed at intersections identified by the Regional Planning Commission as crash “hot spots” because of the frequency with which accidents occur there. Several of the cyclists featured were found through Insight New Orleans. Insight New Orleans is a part of American Public Media’s Public Insight Network, an engagement platform for people to share with journalists their knowledge and insights about timely issues. (Photo Essay by Andy Cook)
