In Newark, there seems to be a half bike-inclusive layout, and half bike-exclusion layout. As a college town, from the months of August through May Newark is flooded with thousands of students trying to get from one place to another. One street, East Delaware Ave includes a bike lane and a traffic light specifically for bikes. As someone who is not from Newark, this was very unfamiliar to me. I had never seen this form of inclusivity, and upon realizing what a bike lane even was, I became so curious as to why not all streets in all cities/towns have bike lanes. Bike lanes resolve the hazards that come between drivers, bikers and walkers colliding. As a nervous driver, I always wondered why bikers tend to bike on the street right next to the sidewalk when I am at home because all I was able to see was the risk I was putting the biker at when driving past them. However, the bike lane made me realize that the reason bikers tend to bike on the street as opposed to the sidewalk is to avoid an incident with a walker. Not only has seeing and experiencing the bike lane in Newark opened my eyes to a resource that I think other places should implement as well, but it has also opened my eyes to a new mindset I should have while driving centered around the fact that bikers are most of the time looking out for pedestrians, which means drivers should do the same for bikers. However, something else that stands out to me as I admire the inclusion of bikers of East Delaware Avenue, I wonder why that is the only street that has the bike lane? Other roads are flooded with walkers and cars, especially East Main Street, making it difficult for bikers to get through safely. I think it will become important for the City of Newark to take the success had from West Delaware Ave's bike lanes and implicate them into other surrounding streets that are also typically very busy. This will create consistent inclusivity, where as the inclusivity for bikers right now is slightly limited to the one road. 

Kate Rudolph