As part of a Bangor-area program that gives people in need free bicycles and teaches them how to ride safely in the city, Erik daSilva often crafts routes for the new riders that avoid major roads and areas that aren’t bicycle friendly.
This portion of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine’s earn-a-bike program is necessary to keep riders of all skill levels safe in a city that provides little infrastructure for cyclists, said daSilva, associate education director for the organization.
City public works crews painted Bangor’s first bike lane in October 2023 on a 0.7-mile strip of State Street after it was repaved, but that paint has largely worn away and hasn’t been refreshed, daSilva said.
“All this education that we try to pass along to them is with the intent of empowering them, giving them confidence and letting them ride in a way that’s very predictable,” he said.
This instruction is especially important at a time when Bangor is on pace to have the highest number of bicyclists hit by automobiles since 2017.
Bangor has seen five bicyclists struck by motor vehicles so far this year, according to data from the Maine Department of Transportation. If the city maintains that average of one bicycle crash per month, Bangor will have the highest number of crashes involving a bicyclist since 2017, when it saw 18.
For comparison, Bangor saw just six bicyclists hit in both 2023 and 2022.
Jason Neal, owner of Slipping Gears Cycling in Bangor, said he regularly fields questions and concerns from customers about how to stay safe while biking around Bangor. Their concerns, he said, usually center around the rough road conditions in the city and the lack of a road shoulder or breakdown land bicycles can ride in.
Though drivers are supposed to give bicycles 3 feet of space when passing them, Neal said some drivers will pass too close and even yell at them to get out of the road. In those cases, Neal said, there’s little riders can do to protect themselves.
“We take the brunt of it while people yell and scream,” Neal said. “Don’t fight with a car, you’re not going to win.”
When the shop organizes group rides, Neal said he stays away from Bangor because the roads are more congested and narrow, forcing bicyclists closer to cars.
John Theriault, Bangor’s city engineer, previously told the Bangor Daily News that the city will consider adding bicycle lanes and widening road shoulders when possible during future road construction and paving projects.
This summer, the city is adding a sidewalk and a 5-foot shoulder to accommodate bicycles when widening a portion of Ohio Street between 18th Street and Crestwood Place, Theriault said.
The city also plans to build a pedestrian and bicycle trail along 14th Street Extension to Valley Avenue and split the cost with the Maine DOT, Theriault said.
Since adopting a comprehensive plan in 2022 that lists adding bicycle amenities as a priority, the city has done little to improve safety for riders other than add the single painted bicycle lane on State Street.
The city also has some multi-use trails, such as the Bangor Waterfront or City Forest, that are open to bicyclists and paved shoulders on some roads that leave more space for them.
Bicycle lanes were also in the list of improvements that could come to portions of downtown Bangor through the Maine Department of Transportation’s Village Partnership Initiative. The program allows the state to partner with communities to spruce up their downtowns using federal funding.
