LOCAL MOTION A more bike-friendly city remains slow in coming BY BEN YASTER

One of the benefits of living in a smaller city like Providence is the ability to get by sans automobile. Beshka Candelaria, an organizer with the nonprofit group Groundwork Providence, is a perfect example. "I’m living car-free," Candelaria says. "It’s been really simple, very easy, stress-free. I don’t have the added financial responsibility of a car. That’s allowed me to afford a lot of other things in my life — like purchasing more bikes."

Candelaria, a resident of Providence’s West End, didn’t pay a dime to her local Exxon as pump prices rose earlier this year, hopping instead on a Breezer or one of the other seven bikes in her collection. But while Providence’s size makes a good fit for bicycle commuting, Candelaria isn’t alone in thinking that the city can be better tailored for cyclists. "It’s easy to get around by bike," she says, "except that the infrastructure — like bike racks, actual lanes, and signage, and motorists recognizing that you have a right to the road — isn’t really there yet."

Backed by an $80,000 grant from the Providence Foundation, Candelaria is organizing Groundwork Providence’s Bike Downtown program, an initiative with City Hall to make Providence more bike-friendly. The grant has supported the installation of 100 bike hitches on sidewalks and at places like the Amtrak station and the Brown and RISD campuses. The hitches, hunter-green posts that rise roughly waist-high, supply cyclists with parking spots perfect for typical U-shaped bike locks.

Leo Labelle, owner of local bike messenger service Dash Delivery, enthuses about the installation of the hitches. "I’ve never seen anything like it," he says, noting how the train station now offers a more adequate number of parking spots for cyclists.

"But," Labelle adds, "getting to the train station is a whole other matter." The route from downtown reveals the general obstacles faced by local bicyclists. Potholes and crumbling pavement make rides abrasive, while narrow, car-choked streets create what can be a harrowing gauntlet for cyclists using the inches between the sidewalk and passing motorists.

The Providence Department of Planning & Development, with assistance from Bike Downtown, is finishing a long-awaited plan to make the city’s roads more hospitable to cyclists. The Providence Bike Network, according to Thomas Deller, director of planning & development, is supposed to encourage bicycling as an alternative to commuting by car. "We need to help make traffic flow, but we can’t tear down buildings to make bigger roads," Deller says. "The Bike Network is a good opportunity to do something different." The network, now under review by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, will add signs, reminding drivers that they are supposed to yield to bicyclists. Broadway will also get striped bike lanes.

Even with various hazards, the relative lack of cyclists in Providence — aside from such pockets as Brown and the West Side — has long puzzled some pedaling proponents. "[But] often times, no one is aware that it’s even possible to ride your bike to work or to school," says Candelaria, who helped to organize a May 22 Bike to Work Day, which attracted a crowd of 100 cyclists. "Until you get the word out, like Bike to Work Day, no one’s going to know that."

While the plans for the Providence Bike Network are almost completed, a date for its implementation has not yet been scheduled. Deller, however, remains anxious to have it finished. "It’s been in the works far too long," he says. "I just want to get it done quickly."