The Anchorage Assembly approved new city code changes on Tuesday night, with the goal of improving bike safety and laying the groundwork for making the city more bike-friendly.
North Anchorage Assembly member Daniel Volland was one of the authors of the ordinance. It adds definitions like “protected bike lane” and “vulnerable road user” to city code. Volland said that will allow for future bike-friendly infrastructure.
“My overarching theme is transportation choice,” Volland said. “This is not about cars versus bikes, or cars versus pedestrians. This is about: You should be able to choose your method of navigating our city safely, get from point A to point B, get to your destination safely, however you choose to travel.”
The ordinance also gets rid of fines for jaywalking, and allows cyclists to treat stop signs more like yield signs, and red lights like stop signs. West Anchorage Assembly member Anna Brawley said that doesn’t give cyclists the green light to blow through red lights.
“What this avoids is, for example, a bicyclist proceeds through, even though there’s a red light, no cars at this intersection, so it is safe to do so otherwise, and then they get pulled over and get a ticket for that,” Brawley said.
Brawley and Volland said other states that instituted similar rules, like Idaho and Delaware, saw a decrease in traffic collisions involving bicycles.
Initially, the ordinance would have repealed the fine for children under the age of 16 who don’t wear a bike helmet, however it was amended to keep the fine. It does eliminate fines for not having a bike light.
The ordinance passed by a 9 to 2 vote, with Assembly members Randy Sulte and Scott Myers opposed.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
