Sharing the same path not the answer

This is the third time I have written to you about the bike trail and pedestrian safety at Lake Arlington. (Thank you for printing my other letters.) I'm the guy who was there at the original dedication ceremony and heard the powers to be say, "We have no money for a separate bike path. The engineering dynamic is too complex and too costly."

Some 20 years later a woman dies and to this day countless walkers and runners have been dangerously brushed and even hit by rude and/or noncaring bikers (it only takes one).

However, as I have said previously, most bikers do care and try their best to avoid those of us on foot. But despite all the new rules involving separate directionality for bicyclists and walkers, we still basically share the SAME path. It is so easy when walking two abreast to unknowingly creep over the line and BAM! - to the ER you go. And very often your back is to the bikers.

Camelot Park in Arlington Heights is in the midst of a multimillion dollar addition and remodeling project. But only a few blocks away we remain unsafe and in jeopardy as we stroll around our beautiful lake. Town meetings on this issue are great, but we need a state representative or a high-ranking village official (the mayor) to take up the cause for a separate bike path.

Sharing the path is not the answer.

Dr. Larry J. Powitz

Arlington Heights