Dear Mayor Cantrell - 

Please act with urgency to deliver on your commitment to create safe and equitable transportation options for all the people of New Orleans, no matter how they get around. I will fully support you and your administration as you create streets built to share, including a network of safe, connected, and protected bikeways that provide a safe and comfortable mobility option for people of all ages and abilities in all neighborhoods of the city.

Streets built to share with protected bike lanes and traffic calming also help reduce dangerous and illegal speeding, making our neighborhoods safer and more livable, especially for children, seniors, and resident with disabilities.

Along with transit, walking, and driving, biking is an important part of how people move around New Orleans. The benefits of biking are impressive for individuals, families, and the broader community: improved public health, social equity, job access & economic development, and quality-of-life; and decreased traffic congestion and parking demand.

Creating a network of protected bikeways will help solve the mobility challenges everyone faces, even those who will never ride a bike. They dramatically improve safety and peace of mind for all travelers. Protected bikeway networks don’t leave people driving, walking, or biking to navigate incomplete connections that force everyone into unsafe and confusing situations. Everyone can get where they are going with the greatest safety and the least amount of hassle because the traffic flow needs of all are met through careful planning and smart construction. 

Please immediately update the City of New Orleans Complete Streets Policy to ensure a data-driven, equity-focused, and publicly transparent process for repairing and rebuilding our roadways so they are safe and built to share. 

Please expedite the exciting efforts to move New Orleans forward by developing a citywide bikeway network plan with robust community engagement that moves rapidly into designing and building the network of protected bikeways. 

Thank you for your commitment to safe and equitable mobility for all New Orleanians, and I look forward to supporting your administration as it implements these important transportation improvements.