A group of concerned Cape Elizabeth residents have organized to lobby for safer roads in their community.

The Cape Roads Safety Coalition is still in its infancy, but organizer Jeff Van Fleet hopes the coalition can provide a voice in the community for cyclists, pedestrians, joggers and even motorists when it comes to any decisions being made concerning the town’s roads.

“We’re trying to have a voice,” said Gary Beckwith, one of the organizers.

Van Fleet, an avid cyclist and jogger, said most of the people involved are cyclists, but the group will address the concerns of everyone who uses the roads. “That’s why we call it a coalition,” he said.

Besides providing a voice, the major goal of the group will be to educate the public in being responsible users of the roads. Van Fleet said that could include increasing signs in key places along the town’s roads and developing a program about road safety for the schools.

“But, we’re not there yet,” Van Fleet said. The coalition has met three times already and has a contact list of about 30 names. He said he hoped the next step would be to organize committees to take on such projects.

The coalition could also play a role in the current process of the developing a new Comprehensive Plan. Town Planner Maureen O’Meara said the role they could play is like the role any resident could play: attending the public forums, of which O’Meara said there would be at least two, and attending the Comprehensive Plan Committee meetings to understand the issues.

Dave Griffin is a member of both the coalition and the Comprehensive Plan Committee. He said “now’s the time” to speak if people are concerned about safer roads in town. If people show up to the public hearings, things like bike paths and wider roads could end up on the town’s agenda for the next 10 years, he said.

Both Director of Public Works Bob Malley and Police Chief Neil Williams have met with the group. Williams said his department sometimes gets complaint calls from motorists about a pack of bicyclists who ride every Saturday morning, but there have been no major incidents. He said everyone who uses the roads has to be respectful of others. “It’s a two-way road; no pun intended.”

With the way the budget is, Williams said the coalition will be a great way to get out information to the public concerning the safety of the town’s roads. “Cape Elizabeth is famous for bike riding and running,” he said. “A lot of people use our roadways.”

Malley said he has money in his budget for road signs and would be happy to provide signs for the coalition if they could come up with some creative designs. He also stressed that “everybody needs to share the road. … The motorists need to respect the bicyclists, but the bicyclists need to respect the motorists.”

A number of road improvement projects are planned for the next 18 months and Malley said the coalition would be kept abreast of the projects as they develop. Through grants from the Maine Department of Transportation, Shore Road, Sawyer Road and Spurwink Avenue are scheduled for repaving. Engineering work is scheduled to be complete by June 2006, with the paving being done in 2007.

Van Fleet said the coalition would like to have a say in placement of crosswalks, signs and maybe even bike lanes. “If a road project came up, we’d certainly like to see that,” he said. “But, it’s not the only thrust here. … We understand that every road in town can’t have four-foot bike lanes.”

Though there is a chance the group could lobby successfully for a paved shoulder along Spurwink Avenue between the Spurwink Church and Pheasant Hill Road, Van Fleet said.

It is that stretch of road that coalition member Rick Fontana avoids because he said it isn’t safe for bikers. Fontana rides his 2-year-old son to daycare every day in a small carriage attached to his bike. He said he goes the long route to avoid Spurwink Avenue, which has no shoulder in places, and almost zero visibility in places because of overgrown brush and hills, he said. “You’re really at the mercy of the drivers.”

Tuesdays and Saturdays are the safest days to ride on Spurwink Avenue, he said, because the town dump is closed.

If nothing else, Van Fleet said he would consider the group a success if it provides a way to get the word out about important issues concerning Cape’s roads.

Rick Fontana trails a baby carriage behind his bike as he pedals up Spurwink Avenue. There is no margin of error when there is no shoulder and overgrown brush, which forces the car in the picture to swerve into the middle of the street right before a hill that hides potential oncoming cars. “It’s not pleasant for anyone when the road isn’t wide enough,” Fontana said.