A new traffic pattern on the bridge between Newburyport and Salisbury caught drivers and elected officials off guard.
When new bike lanes suddenly popped up on the bridge between the Massachusetts communities of Salisbury and Newburyport, it threw drivers for a loop.
"All of a sudden, it was changed," said Newburyport resident Hailey Boulia. "So I think driving to work in the morning, I have to remember where I'm supposed to be."
The bike lanes cut driving lanes from two in each direction down to one.
The merge comes up quickly, and drivers can end up in the new buffer lane between bikes and cars very easily.
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"To take up a whole lane of traffic, I just think is ludicrous," said Chuck Takesian, chair of the Salisbury Board of Selectmen. "This is probably the most complaints I've gotten on any single issue."
One concern is that there's no physical barrier between the driving lanes and the bike lanes — there are just painted lines in the buffer zone.
"I think it's a good idea to have the bike lane to promote people getting outside and moving around, but I do think it could be a little dangerous," said Newburyport resident Max Madden.
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With just one lane for cars in each direction, there's also concern about traffic backing up — especially in the summer, when there are a lot more people around and a drawbridge that goes up routinely.
"What's going to happen to our community here during the summer?" asked Newburyport City Councilor Afroz Khan. "We are a destination city. We're going to have to sit and see and hope there's not going to be the implications that some of us are perceiving may happen."
Elected officials on both sides of the river say they would have liked to hear more from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation about the bike lane plans, and what kind of assessments there have been for traffic safety.
State transportation officials have not responded yet to a request for comment.
"They're traffic engineers," said Newburyport City Councilor Ed Cameron. "I'm not. We're going to take their word for it, they say it should be safe, they don't think it will cause much of a back up, but they're going to continue to monitor that."
