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r <br />{- <br />( <br />Orono/ County Road 19 <br />No Parking Restrictions in the Narrows Bridge Vicinity <br />We the residents in the Narrows Bridge vicinity of County Road 19 strongly urge the <br />Orono City Council to maintain the No-Parking signage and restrictions currently in <br />place. It is a vital issue of safety. When parking was allowed, we witnessed and experi ­ <br />enced a number of near miss accidents between cars as well as cars and bicyclists. <br />The major points that support the No-Parking restrictions are as follows: <br />1. The widened shoulders on both sides of the Narrows Bridge were intended as deceler­ <br />ation and turn lanes so residents could safely pull over and slow down to turn into drive­ <br />ways and service roads. A former resident (General Rawlings) worked with the county <br />to have the turn lanes added to the road plan. See attached pictures of turn lanes on the <br />Tonka Bay side of Narrows Bridge. The width and space allocated on both sides of the <br />bridge is equal. The new construction on Highway 15 in Orono also clearly provides <br />turn lanes and No-Parking restrictions in a situation very similar to ours. <br />2. Turn lanes are critical because there is a very short distance on both sides of the <br />Narrows Bridge from driveways and service roads to the bridge. Cars coming in both <br />directions can’t see over the bridge. Also the speed limit increases from 35 on the Tonka <br />Bay side to 40 on the Orono side, therefore, cars coming over the bridge into Orono are <br />accelerating as they come up and over the bridge. <br />3. County Road 19 is also designated as a Bike Trail, meaning that adequate space needs <br />to be provided for bikes to safely travel on the shoulder. The bike trail is heavily used <br />with frequent large groups of cyclists and bike racers (who often travel at a relatively <br />good rate of speed). <br />4. Cars parked on the shoulder of County Road 19 create a substantial risk for car acci­ <br />dents and car/bicycle accidents. When cars are parked in the turn lanes t^see attached <br />photos), residents turning into driveways must brake hard from 40 miles per hour to turn <br />into driveways. This creates substantial potential to get rear ended from cars traveling <br />behind. Cars also frequently pull out into the other lane of traffic to get around cars <br />turning into driveways. There is only roughly 30 yards of visibility to the top of the <br />bridge creating a substantial risk of head on collision from cars coming the other way, <br />particularly since they’re accelerating because of the 40 mile per hour speed limit on the <br />Orono side of the bridge. <br />5. With cars parked on the shoulder there is not adequate space for bikes to travel with­ <br />out riding in the traffic lanes. Also, with cars parked on the shoulder it is difficult, if not <br />t <br />' .r- — fVW^Alir'