Commuting - 1.5 miles on a busy 4 lane hwy or 5 miles on a 2 lane road?

This is my daily commute dilemma. I live 1.5 miles away from school via a very busy 4 lane highway or I can go 5 miles down a 2 lane road and over 2 railroad tracks that makes a V shape to school.

Hwy Pros:
-faster commute means less time on the road (read: time in the danger zone where a careless car commuter can hit me)
-4 lanes means 2 lanes going my way and it's easier for cars to safely pass me.
-Call it Bike evangelism: the more people who see someone commuting by bike the more likely they are to feel like they can do it and the more comfortable they'll be driving around bicycles.

Hwy Cons:
-at least 10 times as many cars pass me, I see wrecks on this stretch of road every week.
-morning car commuters don't always respect my right to the road
-not a very long shoulder, maybe 0.4 miles of the trip.

Back road Pros:
-prettier commute, more foliage to look at, more shade.
-more time on the bike
-only 15 cars pass me instead of 200.

Back road Cons:
-more time in SC heat
-less time at home or at school studying (the no studying can be a pro too)
-2 railroad tracks are in poor condition and really jar me and the bike if I go more than 1 mph over them
-cars have only 1 lane so they either pass really close or have to cross a double yellow into oncoming traffic to pass

I'm sure many of us face similar conundrums. What would you choose for me, and what do you choose daily?
Thanks,
-durty

take the path less traveled by - you'll thank yourself in the long run

take the path less traveled by - you'll thank yourself in the long run
x2

Back road !

The nice thing is that both options are still relatively short. I'd go with the 5 miler myself. It's a nicer ride all around & still wont' take you very long. You can always use the shorter route if you get out the door late/need to study more/ etc, but as a daily plan, the 5 miler will be infinitely more enjoyable.

more time/distance on the bike is always a good thing in my opinion. 1.5 miles is almost too short to even bother with a bike, might as well just walk. at least with the 5 mile route you'll make it worth the while to get the bike out and do some rolling.

I'd say back road because 5 miles isn't very far, and I'd lean towards the safer route. That said, if the 4-lane had decent ridable shoulders, I wouldn't be afraid to use it either. On weekend rides, I feel safer on busy highways with wide shoulders than on 60mph back roads with no shoulders, putting me in the lane. I know not everyone feels the same way.

does the 4 lane also have a decent paved shoulder, and what's the speed limit? If it has a shoulder and the speed limit is <50, I'd tend to take it just because its shorter. Take the 5 mile route if there is no paved shoulder, the speed limit is >= 50 or you want a nicer ride.

Backroad. SC summers can be hell, but the view is better and the air cleaner.

Back road, and double it! That's a short commute!

It depends- or "both". As with others, I face this daily. I ride the backroads in the morning (when it is normally dark except 1-2 months this time of year), but in the afternoon when I'm more in a hurry to get home and it's daylight, I take the busy road (actually 2 lane in my case but same dilemma). Plus it provides some variety, an important consideration also from my view.

1.5 miles isn't enough time to get your legs warmed up. 5 miles barely is. I have two reasonable commute options. One is 8 - 9 miles, one is almost 14. The 14 mile commute has a few residential streets, then a 45-55 mph two lane with a nice shoulder the whole way. The 8-9 is 45-55 mph with no shoulder, blind curves, rolling hills. I take the 14 mile option.

I guess 5 miles on the back roads would be OK if you can't figure out a route that would make it 10 miles.

Depends on the traffic, visibility, presence and condition of shoulders. My AM commute route uses a 4-lane secondary road (posted speed limit is 40-45 for a few miles) with a reasonable width right lane, no shoulder (hard curb) a semi-usable side path on one side and an older poorly maintained sidewalk on the other. Traffic is light enough to generally not be a problem (at least it hasn't been for 2 months!). For the PM route, I cut my use of this road to a minimum and use roughly parallel subdivision and tertiary roads, including several spots with 2-lane, no shoulder traffic similar to the OP's route (but not light traffic- no such thing around here). The 4-laner PM traffic is much heavier and just as fast. When I work late, I often take the 4-lane road home as well. Post-rush hour traffic is MUCH lighter, and if it near or past dusk, my lights make me very visible to drivers, based on their betetr behavior changing lanes well before they pass me.

Personally I would choose the 5 miles just to get in a few extra miles.

The 1.5 mile route sounds like exactly the type of road that you should avoid on a bike. It doesn't take long to cover 5 miles on a bike, less the 30 minutes.

What I normally chose is the shortest distance. However my 4 lane 45mph road has a shoulder about 6 feet wide but is never taken care of. If it didn't have a shoulder I would consider another route.

204573

My choice was pretty similar! Six mile ride with about three miles on a 60 mph highway (admittedly with a nice wide shoulder), or 10.5 miles on country roads with about 1/3 mile on the same highway. I chose country roads all the way. :) It's quieter, I feel safer, and I like going the long way. But it's nice to know if I need to I can take the shorter way for a quicker ride home. I enjoy not feeling the stress of interstate speed traffic around me, especially during the afternoon rush hour.

5 mile road!

I vote for the backroad.

I do like logging extra miles, and I generally feel safer on the 5 mile road so that's what I normally do. However I did get yelled at today on the back road to "get off the road." It's all part of the bike evangelism I guess.
Thanks for the input.
-durty

go slow on the backroad instead of freaking out on the highway. i like the adrenaline rush of traffic, but when you ride it every day, i just feel freaked-out.

1.5 miles would be too short for me honestly. Depends if your trying to get a little bit of a workout though. I would take the scenic route and enjoy the road some.

Longer back road route, no question.

j.

Depends.. if it's anything like here, (which I doubt) then the 4 lane road is safer because of the extra lane for passing. Most two lane roads here have almost as many cars as the 4 lane, but without that extra passing cushion so it can be a little nerve wracking sometimes.

One local example, fountain ave, is a 2 lane road with sharrows painted on it for miles. I rarely ride on it though because it's also a road that drivers use to get around the busier streets, so it's packed full of cars that are close passing or piling up behind you if you're taking the lane. Often i'll take sunset blvd, which is a 4 lane road, 6 in some spots, (2/3 lanes each side) instead just to avoid close passes.

more time/distance on the bike is always a good thing in my opinion. 1.5 miles is almost too short to even bother with a bike, might as well just walk. at least with the 5 mile route you'll make it worth the while to get the bike out and do some rolling.
+1
1.5 miles is walking distance.

1) There's no law that says you have to take the same route all the time. Take the highway if you're in a hurry and the backroad if you're not.

2) You've actually experienced both routes while I'm guessing no one here has. Choose the one you like and ignore us... except for me . :D

1) There's no law that says you have to take the same route all the time. Take the highway if you're in a hurry and the backroad if you're not.

2) You've actually experienced both routes while I'm guessing no one here has. Choose the one you like and ignore us... except for me . :D

+1
Don't be afraid. Ride them both. But not at the same time.

I'd walk the 1.5 miler and ride the 5 miler but add a ten mile loop to it on the way home.

Yeah I normally do the scenic route, but I was trying to get input about which might be safer and what other people with similar conundrums pick.

Sidewalks are good. Sidewalks mean I can bail to walking if I need to.

Speed limits matter. A 2 lane road posted at 35mph where the unofficial limit is 55mph is going to be a lot more dangerous than a busy 4 lane road where it may be posted 35mph but drivers have a helluva time busting 30. I'll ride on roads with 55mph traffic, but my preference is a rough cutoff of 40mph. The bigger the speed difference, the worse a collision is, and I'm typically going 10-15mph. Differences of more than 20mph get very lethal very quickly, so 40mph is a reasonable speed for me to start getting twitchy. You'll have your own speed tendencies and your own cutoffs.

The drivers matter too. A road that's technically 4 lanes but everyone knows it's a major bike route so drivers treat it as 2 lane? That is a great route. Same basic road, but everyone is hell bent on using every bit of the 4 lanes? Bad route.

Longer is not necessarily better or worse. As a kid I'd regularly bike 1.5-2 miles to the library or swimming pool. Well, bike is a strong word, because I lived on top of a hill with about a 15% grade. A round trip could easily bust 500 feet of climbing, and I'd regularly end up walking at least some of the hills. All of the longer options involved even more hill climbing. Not surprisingly, I'd always take the most direct route.

Line of sight matters. A twisty turny road where seeing a half mile ahead is a challenge is not a great route. A route where you're riding out of the sun's glare both morning and evening? Not good.

Chances are you know darn well which roads are the unofficial drag strips. Don't pick them.