Laskin Road gateway gets a safety fix for pedestrians, bicyclists

When Laskin Road at 30th Street got a face lift, it became an official gateway.

It also became, unofficially, a really dangerous place to walk or pedal your bike.

In April, The Warrior wrote about a seeming omission in the plans - more like a "we'll deal with this later."

At the gateway, just where Oceanfront-bound traffic veers south onto 30th, there was a 100-foot stretch without a sidewalk. Pedestrians and bicyclists had to leave the safety of the wide shoulder on Laskin and actually walk or pedal in the fast-moving eastbound driving lanes to reach the sidewalk near 30th.

Project engineer David Jarman said the seeming oversight was a product of the road's close proximity to a utility duct, which would have been punctured by a guard rail. The problem was intended to be corrected in the second and third stages of the project, when utilities in the way would be moved. But those phases have been postponed.

Three weeks later, Jarman updated The Warrior, saying the city figured out a fix. That fix, installing a new stretch of sidewalk, was completed last week.

"We did have to work through some design issues, but we have managed to get the sidewalk installed and opened," Jarman wrote Monday.

A couple of smallish items still need attention: a guardrail south of the new sidewalk and a boardwalk handrail. But it is, as of last week, "open and functional," the city says.

Kudos to Greg and Therese Belardi for bringing this situation to our attention, and to Jarman and the city for realizing the severity of the problem and acting on it.