Originally Posted by
spare_wheel
i think one of the problems is that people in usanian cities want cycle tracks and cycle paths without taming the bull. speed reduction and traffic calming are essential to making downtown areas safe for active transport. for example, portland's downtown has a traffic-signal enforced speed limit of ~16 mph. the last thing we need in this low speed environment is some big ugly protected bike lane. imo, cage storage space reduction, traffic calming, and elimination of cages from entire lanes or streets would be a far cheaper and more appealing solution.
To hear bike and complete streets advocates talk, bikes lanes are
part of traffic calming. Take a lane away from cars and give it to bicycles, and the street's gone on a road diet, and the street becomes safer for all users, pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers alike. That's the theory anyway; it does seem to be born out by some evidence.