With permanent bike racks for Olin Library and McDonnell Hall coming in October, the focus of attention concerning the new campus bike plan has shifted to the overpass bridge to the Loop.

Plans for the overpass bridge have not gone smoothly thus far.

The original bike plan called for the installation of hinged gates along the bridge to prevent bikers from riding across. The bridge has several signs denoting a “dismount area” for bicycles, but Sarah Stanton, assistant project manager for the Department of Facilities Planning & Management, says that cyclists frequently ignored the signs.

The gates have been taken down due to the high volume of feedback that the Department of Facilities Planning & Management received from members of the Washington University community.

According to Stanton, the feedback was both positive and negative. Those who have previously voiced concerns about conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians on the bridge were glad to see that something was being done.

Others noted that the gates were not successful in forcing bikers to dismount as bikers often would just ride around the gates, which had to be installed a certain distance apart in order to comply with ADA regulations for wheelchair accessibility.

Many bikers responded negatively to the installation of the gates.

“Some cyclists are concerned about us discouraging access to the campus, which is not the case,” Stanton said. “That’s why we’re working on an expansion to the bridge so we can accommodate both sides.”

This “expansion” refers to a future goal of the bike plan to expand the overpass bridge in order to avoid conflicts between bikers and pedestrians. It will give each their own side of the bridge on which to travel.

“The bridge right now is pretty narrow, so there is an interest in expanding the bike path on the bridge to either widen the bridge or create some alternative path for bikes,” Director of Sustainability Phil Valko said.

Valko and Stanton both agree that an expansion is now the ultimate goal of addressing pedestrian-biker conflicts on the bridge, but they also acknowledge the importance of finding a temporary strategy to deal with the problem.

The Office of Sustainability and the Department of Facilities Planning & Management are currently in the process of creating a new task force to address issues that have arisen between bikers and pedestrians on campus, known as the Bicycles and Pedestrian Access and Circulation task force, or BPAC.

The group, which will be aimed at moving the bike plan forward, will include students, administrators and faculty members.

“The expansion plan isn’t immediate, and people are concerned about safety between bikes and pedestrians,” Stanton said. “The task force will try to accomplish a strategy that best mitigates the issues across the bridge.”

Students have mixed feelings about the creation of the task force.

“I think it’s good that they’re trying to do something about the problem, but we wouldn’t need a task force if bikers were more vocal about coming up behind you,” sophomore Paul Davis said.

Sophomore Shannon Howell feels that even with the task force, the conflict will persist.

“I feel like it doesn’t matter, because, even after they expanded the sidewalk on Forsyth, people still walk in the bicycle lane,” Howell said.

Despite some negative feedback, Stanton is hopeful about the task force and the rest of the bike plan, which will continue to be implemented throughout the year.

“This task force is really intended to engage more of the community and develop strategies of dialogue in the various components of the plan,” she said. “I hope that students and faculty are liking some of the improvements we’ve made so far, and there’s more to come.”