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Beirut’s New Bike Lane is Just Impractical

By on May 1, 2017 in Beirut, Traffic

It has been less than 10 days since the unveiling of Beirut’s first bike lane and it is already proving to be impractical, not only because drivers are unsurprisingly ignoring it, but also for the simple fact that it was set up on the left side of the road whereas bikers are obliged by traffic laws to ride on the right side of the road and on the bike lane where it exists. The result is an experience as the one you can see in the below video.

The problem lies in the fact that the lane seems to have been set up in a way not to disturb the valet parking guys who occupy the right lane day and night. You just can’t expect something to function correctly when you start it wrong… In my opinion, the municipality and Beirut by Bike are using this bike lane thing as a stunt to appear like they’re doing something for the city while they know beforehand that no one will make use of it, and best of all, it costs nothing to draw lines on the road!

We can barely fit cars in our street, let alone creating bike lanes, so in order to make that happen the municipality must first work on rehabilitating the roads, and in if it’s impossible then I think they better focus on improving something else and take proper credit for it.

video via Mohamad Cheblak

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What Are These Excavation Works in Ramlet El Bayda?

By on November 13, 2016 in Environment, Governmental

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Many activists have been sharing photos since Thursday of excavations works currently happening at Beirut’s last public beach in Ramlet El Bayda but nobody was able to explain their purpose yet.

Over the last couple of years there has been a lot of talk about the area being a private property and that a resort will be built there by Achour Development. However, right before the previous municipal council’s term ended last spring, it was announced that the municipality of Beirut will be claiming back the beach and surrounding land in order to keep it accessible to the public. News about the whole thing then eventually stopped circulating until these photos started surfacing online.

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Knowing that the “Byeirteh” list’s promise when they were elected was to keep Beirut for its people, I hope they were considering Ramlet El Bayda a part of the capital when they made their promise back then.

In all cases, I tried to reach both of Ziad Chbib (Beirut governor) and Jamal Itani (Beirut mayor) to know the purpose of these excavation works and will definitely post an update if they reply to me.

Photos via Lama Karamé and Joelle Boutros.

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