Life in the fast(er) lane

Public Works crew leader Mark Kerr and Mark Richardson, manager of streets, facilities, parks and recreation, look at the state of traffic during season from traffic-mapping apps on their phones. On most days, the maps contain red lines indicating serious congestion on parts of Longboat Key in the afternoons.

Those maps are a frequent topic of conversation among Public Works employees.

But many have found a solution to beating traffic: They’ve started parking off-island in the mornings and biking the rest of the way to work.

Kerr and Richardson, along with approximately 10 others, leave work each day on two wheels at 4:30 p.m., often passing cars that are barely moving due to gridlock.

Richardson added biking to his commute two years ago. He lives in Palmetto and, like most of the group, drives to the Coquina Beach parking lot from home and bikes the rest of the way to work.

With the bike, he’s home at 5:30 p.m. exactly. Without it? His 20-mile trip from the Public Works building could take between two and three hours, depending on how bad traffic is.

Richardson’s commute is one of the longest, he said. Most of his coworkers with whom he rides travel between 10 and 20 miles to get home.

Kerr decided to try riding after a bad day of traffic.

“I dealt with it once,” he said. “I started (working for the town) in May 2014, and the first time (riding) was during the Christmas holiday. I said, ‘That’s it.’ I did it one day and said, ‘No way.’”

Some days when the crew leaves work, Kerr said, traffic is backed up past General Harris Street, where the Public Works office is located.

“Why sit in traffic for an hour or longer when you can ride a bike for 15 minutes?” Richardson said.

Once the crew gets over the bridge, there can still be congestion, but it’s not as severe. To illustrate the difference, Kerr and Richardson reach for their phones. Their apps show red lines to the Longboat Pass Bridge, then orange lines indicating moderate traffic beyond that. There can be congestion on parts of Cortez Road, Richardson said, so he sometimes goes north to the Manatee Avenue Bridge.

Kerr has an 8.5-mile commute home and sometimes goes the whole way by bike, though Richardson is quick to point out Kerr rides an electric bike.

Richardson rides an older mountain bike he’s had since just after he left college.

Many of the Public Works employees who ride appreciate the health benefits of biking, although they say it is primarily a time-saving measure, which is why they usually only ride from December to Easter.

“Some of these guys borrowed bikes because they’re so sick of sitting in one-hour traffic,” Richardson said.

“I don’t know how fast you’re going,” Kerr has heard his coworkers say as they watched him pass from their cars, “but it looks fast.”

Both Richardson and Kerr say at any speed, cycling saves time.

Now, when coworkers ask Kerr how traffic looks, he responds:

“The bike lane’s wide open.”