The protected bike lanes on Cedar Street open to traffic Monday morning, finishing a project that was first funded in 2024 and has been delayed twice by utility conflicts under the roadbed.
The finished stretch runs a mile and a half from the Millbrook High parking lot to the Water Street light, separated from traffic by a painted buffer and plastic flex posts for most of its length, and by a raised curb between Third and Elm.
On-street parking on the east side of Cedar is gone permanently. Public Works counted 34 spaces removed and says 90 percent of them were unoccupied during the weekday counts it ran last October.
What took so long
The original 2024 schedule had the lanes open by that November. Crews then found a gas main sitting eleven inches under the planned curb line between Third and Fourth, which required a redesign and a second round of state approval. A wet spring in 2025 cost another season.
We could have painted a stripe in 2024 and called it a bike lane. We would have been back here in five years rebuilding it.
Public Works Director Sam Reyes-Whitlock
What to watch for this week
- The Third Street crossing is signalized and cyclists get their own phase — expect drivers to miss it for a while
- Deliveries on the east side now use three marked 15-minute loading bays
- Winter plowing is a smaller machine on a separate pass, so clearing will lag the main road by a few hours
The town is holding a ride-along and Q&A with Public Works staff on Saturday at 10 a.m., starting from the high school lot.