Dartmouth Times

Mark your calendars! Daylight Savings is on November 6th. If you keep a checklist for such seasonal changes, making sure that you have the right gear is a good candidate—but doing a mental check is helpful too. Specifically, do you have bright-colored clothing and lights for visibility when you are out biking and walking in Lebanon, whether on or along roads, sidewalks, and paths? 

And drivers, as the evening hours darken sooner, are you recommitting to 100% distraction-free awareness of your surroundings, especially at intersections and in narrow corridors? And, not to call out any one form of mobility over another, but watching your speed is critical! It’s easy to forget when you’re cruising along, especially with some newer modes like e-bikes and scooters, or even electric vehicles, that others out there might not hear you coming and it is important to make them aware of your presence while also slowing down. 

So, go forth and enjoy this year’s amazing foliage display while also exercising respect and safety for yourself and others. Fortunately, Lebanon has many great options for being mobile. 

If you have had your ear to the ground, you might even discover some new routes! For example, did you know that there is a new connection between the Northern Rail Trail, Route 4, and the Lebanon Middle School? The City and Lebanon School District recently collaborated to complete sidewalks on Moulton Avenue, a new crosswalk over Route 4, and a multi-use path from the crosswalk to the City’s Public Works property. From there, the new path connects to the Ruth Shepherd Trail and Northern Rail Trail, near the Lebanon Memorial Pool. The new path is featured in the draft Walk Bike Ride Lebanon (WBRL) multimodal network map if you click on the “separated path” layer.  

What a great way for students and their families to get to school and to after-school programs downtown—in addition to providing a new access for Hillcrest Acres residents! That said, it’s important to take this tip to heart: when at road crossings, please look both ways before advancing, and beware of vehicles turning off side roads! This is important to practice even when a location is signed for pedestrians and cyclists, and certainly worth regularly reminding young people about. 

Our final and best tip is to plan ahead, and knowing your community is part of that. The WBRL multimodal plan will include a route guide and in the meantime, you can access some helpful maps of local facilities. We also encourage people to reach out to the Lebanon Pedestrian and Bicyclist Advisory Committee (LBPAC) if you have questions about routes in the City. 

The LPBAC promotes communication, exchanges ideas and concerns between users of the City’s bicycle and pedestrian facilities and local officials, and supports engagement tools like the WBRL Survey results to understand and prioritize citizen concerns. To learn more, visit the LPBAC web page.

Original source can be found here.