Advocacy & Safety - One Way Street - "Except For Bikes"

We just recently had some new signage installed on a short one way street. Under the regular "Do Not Enter" , "One Way" signs, the municipality installed signs that say "Except for Bikes". Anyone else see anything like this where they bike? What do you think of it?

We have a main road downtown that is one way for cars and both ways for bikes; however there are two bike lanes next to each other--one for each direction.

Further down the same road the bike lanes go down to one and is one-way, but bikes take it the wrong way all the time.

If there is room for two-way bike traffic, then I think it's a great idea and yet another benefit for riding a bike!

As long as there's room for bikes to be going in both directions it seems like a good idea to me.

Assuming that cars are going to pass bikes no-matter-what, the road is the same width whether the bike is pointed one way or the other.

There has to be room for the car and bike side-by-side.

I wouldn't ride faster than 18 MPH on such a road, but there is space.

I'm sure they do it because there is room for a bike to go the other direction, so there is no need to make a rider go around the block to stay on streets going with traffic.

I have no problem with it.

I'm sure they do it because there is room for a bike to go the other direction, so there is no need to make a rider go around the block to stay on streets going with traffic.

I have no problem with it.

Except that in my experience a driver freaks out when confronted by a bicycle or runner coming towards them on a one-way street, they aren't expecting it and their mind can't wrap around the concept.

Personally I wouldn't do it at anything faster than pedestrian speeds. Pedestrians aren't expecting someone on their left when stepping off the curb on such a street.

It depends how its implemented.

One can add a 'wrong way' bike lane - thats easy, but not enough.

What is important is how the intersections are designed. If done right the intersections (all of them) should 'look' just like any two way intersection - signs, signals and lanes for all directions of vehicular traffic.

Al

It is a setup to kill off a bunch of cyclist in your city. Don’t do it. Do not right the wrong way.

In Sydney, there is a similar kind of street - Wilson St.
It's the main cyclist way of getting from Newtown to Redfern. During "peak hour" quite alot of bikes can be seen riding along it, so the local drivers are use to sharing the road with bicycles. That makes up for the fact that the street is not that wide.

I think whether or not it would work has got to be very place-specific. I'd be interested in seeing such a set-up. Any chance you could post photos, ajay677?

It's very common in Florence, Italy, and possibly in a bunch of other Italian cities. Bicycles and motor scooters are exempt from one way restrictions on a lot of one way streets. The only problem I can see is that the Vespa riders seem to think they should be exempt from all one wy streets, but they seem to make up their own rules as they go anyway.

I think whether or not it would work has got to be very place-specific.

Yeah. There are a bunch over here, some with barely room for a car, more or less a car and bike, more or less a car and _two_ bikes (one in each direction). But since drivers are used to bikes, it's never really a problem (the narrowest streets have very low car traffic).

I don't like the idea of that at all. Maybe... just maybe if there were bike lanes on both sides of the street I could see it being just alright but something like this would lead to too much confusion.
While I am all for bike facilities, special rights like this one are not that way to go when it comes to riding in the street.

This street is only about one block long but connects two important north-south routes. There are no bike lanes and the pavement is in absolutely deplorable condition. If I remember, I'll try and post a picture later tonight.

I don't like the idea of that at all. Maybe... just maybe if there were bike lanes on both sides of the street I could see it being just alright but something like this would lead to too much confusion.
While I am all for bike facilities, special rights like this one are not that way to go when it comes to riding in the street.
I'll second this--special privileges usually come back to bite the privilege-ees in the ass.

Parraiwi Road Mosman NSW Australia has a sign that reads No Left turn Except Bikes.

I cycle Parraiwi rd two or more times a week.