BicycleSPACE via Facebook

Sidewalks throughout Alexandria could become a lot more crowded and difficult to navigate with the latest decision by the city’s leaders. The Alexandria City Council this week approved an ordinance allowing cyclists to ride on the sidewalks in nearly the entirety of the city.

With the exception of a few blocks in the heart of Old Town, sidewalk biking will now be permitted throughout Alexandria, finally bringing the city in line with the rest of Virginia. Riding on the sidewalk has long been allowed throughout the state, except where locally restricted.

But is letting bikes onto the sidewalk a good move for Alexandria, especially where the sidewalks along main thoroughfares are quite narrow? The only exceptions carved out by city officials are on King Street east of West Street and on Union Street between Cameron and Prince Streets. Old Town is bigger than those two swaths, even if the sidewalks are tiny.

Some Alexandria residents tell WAMU they have reservations about the new ordinance.

Dino Drudi, a resident in the Parker Gray neighborhood of Alexandria, says elected officials made a mistake by changing the rules for sidewalks, especially the narrow sidewalks of Old Town where people and cycles will soon compete for space. He says the sidewalk in front of his house isn’t big enough for the both of them.

“Bicyclists don’t follow rules,” he says. “They don’t stop at stop signs. So the city council put all these rules in about what bicyclists are supposed to do. Does anybody expect that they are really going to enforce them?”

That’s a pretty broad anti-bike position from Drudi, but if there’s at least one flaw in the Alexandria’s new ordinance, it’s only blocking out a two-block stretch of Union Street.

As anyone who rides along the Mount Vernon Trail knows, Union Street serves as a connector between the trail’s segments and is marked with sharrows and, in the main drag of Old Town, a designated bike lane. No cyclist should feel the need to jump up onto the sidewalk there.

But moreover, riding on the sidewalk can be a risky endeavor. Sidewalks tend to be two-way paths; adding bikes to the mix only creates more of an obstacle course. Even though the sidewalks in D.C.’s Central Business District are some of the widest in the city, cycling is still banned on the sidewalks because they are already crowded enough. Though seldom enforced, the ban remain in effect. In New York City, riding on the sidewalk is prohibited throughout the five boroughs, and enforced judiciously. (Unless you’re famous.)

If you must ride on the sidewalk though, only do so with the utmost care and give the right of way to pedestrians, the group for whom sidewalks are constructed. It’s not the safest way to ride, but at least it’s not salmoning.