(OCEAN CITY, Md.) - The bicycle-friendly Ocean City could be upgrading current bike paths to make traveling safer for cyclists.
The town is focusing on getting bikes off busy roads like Baltimore and Philadelphia Avenue, as well as Coastal Highway.
On the boardwalk Saturday afternoon, the weather was nice so the bikes came out. Among the cyclists was Paul Ketterman who lives part time in Ocean City and regularly bikes from his condo near the convention center into downtown.
"The main street I take is Baltimore Avenue," said Ketterman. "We've always avoided the Coastal Highway particularly, even though they have bike paths."
With summer around the corner, visitors like Colleene O'Ferrell of Solomon Islands, Md. told WRDE that now is the time to take advantage of light traffic. But at the height of the summer season, it's a different story.
"It's a little scary sometimes, just because there's a lot of cars. You have crazy people cutting people off," said O'Ferrell.
Many cyclists, including O'Ferrell and Ketterman, opt to use alleyways as alternative bike paths.
We pretty much stay alleyways, or go to the bayside as far as we can, and then we'll cut over," said O'Ferrell.
The alleys are what town leaders are trying to improve by working with property owners to allow cyclists to pass through, as well as installing a few more traffic signs.
"You still have to watch for young children and people who are walking the alleys or motorists who come up onto the alleys to get to their condos," Ketterman said, "you always have to be very careful and cautious when you're riding the bike."
Other roads the town is looking into is Sinepuxent Avenue which is a known bike path alternative among locals.
The town wants to reduce the number of stop signs there to streamline traffic, in addition to making room on the street for a designated bike path.