this piece of infrastructure is in the suburbs where most roads have no bike lanes or narrow 4-5 foot bike lanes with debris, glass, and even narrower choke points. it's a massive improvement over the status quo and fixes a major connection deficit. and quite frankly it's a better facility than the majority of facilities in many major usanian cities.
sure...a raised bed cycle track would be ideal. likewise a speed reduction to 25, traffic calming, road diet and the current buffered bike lane would also be ideal. both of these options have been used extensively in northern europe. but...please...lets remember that this is not urban netherlands -- we in USAnia do not have tens of billions of euros to spend on cycle tracks. this is also not urban germany -- washington county does have the political will to tame and calm the bull. for suburban bike infrastructure in the pdx area this facility is a huge improvement. imo, instead of cr*pping on it with comments like "worse than the status quo" we should be celebrating it.
Last edited by spare_wheel; 06-18-14 at 12:21 PM.