Dutch cycling treats

Charged with finding solutions for Dorchester's cycling danger zones this summer, a class of Northeastern University civil engineering seniors sought answers in biker's mecca: the Netherlands. In cities like Delft, where they lived and studied, Amsterdam, and elsewhere, their professor, Peter Furth, made them do as the Dutch do: hop on their kopens (that's Dutch for bicycles) and pedal everywhere.

They shared the fruits of their monthlong fact-finding mission Wednesday night with representatives from Dorchester bicycle groups, Boston's Livable Streets Alliance, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation, aiming to defang cyclist nightmares like Dorchester Avenue and Morrissey Boulevard.

"You put the best and brightest minds of young folks to work on problems we don't think about because we're used to them," said Roseanne Foley, a founding member of DotBike, which hosted the event at the Vietnamese American Community Center.

When Northeastern senior Eric Stadelmann finished explaining his plan for bike lanes, more conspicuous crosswalks, and reprogrammed walk signals that could protect bikers and pedestrians crossing Andrew Square, DotBike volunteer Phil Lindsay, 52, was a believer.

"Can't wait for that day," he sighed from his seat.

Before visiting the Netherlands, the students had surveyed their targets in Dorchester, observing how cars, bikes, and people interacted. A familiar litany of problems kept resurfacing, as the students looked at such concerns as improving bike access to South Bay Shopping Center from the Andrew T station, and to UMass-Boston from the JFK-UMass stop.

In every "auto-centric" problem area, students called for crosswalks and medians, bike access and parking, clear signs, and green space.

They had extrapolated solutions from their trip that could be applied to Dorchester: not just bike lanes but bike streets, two-way roads separated from traffic by a median; bike cages; and speed humps to calm traffic at regular intervals. They did not address how to pay for these measures.

Professor Furth said riding with the Dutch helped students see biking's possibilities.

"We've got to go over there to see, 'Wow, people actually ride bikes,' " he said.

Correction: Because of an editing error in a Sept. 28 story on Dorchester bicycling safety recommendations, bicycle was translated incorrectly into Dutch; the correct word is fiets. Also, the name of a DotBike founding member was misspelled; she is Rosanne Foley.