We’d like to add our own two cents’ worth to those in recent weeks who have encouraged increased efforts to improve bike safety on Route 96. It’s heavily traveled by cyclists both local and from off the peninsula, and we’ll wager a guess that if you surveyed those who cycle on a regular basis, you’d find that Ocean Point is one of their favorite destinations. That stands to reason, for it’s a favorite spot for most of us. Hearing the suggestion that we “take a ride around Ocean Point’’ is something we first heard in childhood and continued into adulthood.Today, a popular way to “see’’ the Point is on a bicycle rather than in a car.

The entire peninsula is becoming increasingly aware of the need to provide safe paths for cyclists, because their numbers continue to climb every year. Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor have been collaborating to make a sidewalk and bike path from in-town Boothbay Harbor to Boothbay Center and it’s close to becoming a reality. This would be a good time to look at some of the side roads, such as Route 96, and develop some ideas as to how to insure the safety of bicycles along the route. Some of the shoulders have already been paved, and in a number of places, it wouldn’t take much to connect the unpaved shoulders with those that have been paved.  Having a separate, designated, bike path is probably only a pipe dream, and too costly to even consider, so it looks like the next best option would be to negotiate with the town or the state when paving projects are planned and pay the extras cost of paving the shoulders. We know this can’t happen overnight; the towns don’t have the money, nor does the state. However, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Motorists and cyclists try hard to share the road, but the number of near-misses is enough to make you shake in your boots. Route 27 itself, from Route One south, is full of cyclists this time of year headed onto our peninsula.  When you come upon a cyclist, you sometimes have precious few options: Slam on the brakes, swerve over into the oncoming traffic lane, or force the cyclist into the ditch.  The 3-foot rule sounds good on paper, and it’s the law, but that doesn’t make it always easy to obey. Even on busy in-town streets, safety often takes a back seat when it comes to trying to keep everyone safe.

 All peninsula town officials have made great strides in improving bike/car/pedestrian safety and we hope whenever plans are being made in the future which involve various modes of travel, that they try to look down the road  ­-  way down the road – to insure the safety of all.