Lois Levin, the president and founder of Bike Newton, worked on the recommendation as a member of the Transportation Advisory Committee, and she said the higher number was meant to be in the report, which was released Nov. 17.
But whether or not the recommendation is officially changed, Newton officials agree that more is better, according to Robert Rooney, the city’s chief operating officer.
“If we can achieve 40 in four years we’ll do that too,’’ said Rooney. “We’re not going to trip over the numbers.’’
So where will the lanes be added? Nothing has been decided yet. But Rooney said good candidates include College Road and Hammond Street, both of which connect Beacon Street with Commonwealth Avenue; Nahanton Street; part of Walnut Street; and large segments of Centre, Washington, and Beacon streets.
The idea is to identify roads that will help get people where they want to go, whether it’s shopping or to work, he said, keeping in mind recreational cyclists as well. A bicycle master plan, to be completed by April 30, Rooney said, would help choose good roadways for bike lanes.
The goal for the width of bike lanes is five feet for ones rolling alongside street parking or a curb, and four feet if there is no curb, according to Jim Danila, a transportation engineer for the city.
The city doesn’t want to eat into sidewalks or the grassy berms next to them, so most bike lanes will be created from shoulders or the slight narrowing of traffic lanes, from 12 feet to 11 feet in some cases, for example, said Rooney.
Not everyone agrees. Anatol Zukerman, who was cochairman of a subcommittee set up by the Transportation Advisory Committee, said he is unhappy with the final report.
“The whole report was dominated by bike enthusiasts,’’ he said. “And they propose to reduce the width of travel lanes in order to accommodate bike lanes, and that is simply unrealistic because the traffic is on the rise.’’
Zukerman said he wants to see streets widened wherever possible to accommodate more cars, and he added that if there were extra width, he would rather see sidewalks widened instead of adding bike lanes.
