Originally Posted by Frankenbiker

Re: agreeing with our local bicycle ban on one street.

Yes, I agree with the bicycle ban on our street. I lived on that street from 1970 through 1993. It is very narrow and in portions there is a steep embankment on one side with a decaying "sidewalk" six feet above grade and no sidewalk on the other side, Telephone poles are within one foot of the curb (I unintentionally hit one with my hand once years ago when my arm was hanging out the window as a passenger in a car. Dang that hurt.)

The street is the most heavily traveled N-S street through town and is a direct route from campus to uptown bars. Semis and drunken drivers were common. Back when 18yr-olds could get into bars, college students would ride to the bars on bikes (and back) and get into all sorts of trouble.

There was an ancient bridge at the bottom of a ravine that was just barely wide enough for two cars to pass. Very dangerous. Last year they finally bulldozed a few houses adjacent to the old bridge, tore it out and put in a wider version.

Everybody was happy with the ban. I would be very uncomfortable riding on that street even without the bicycle ban. The bicycle lanes on the adjacent one-way streets are very useful for getting from campus uptown to the "Square."