lostarchitect 

NYC has made great strides in adding bike lanes. The choice ones are the so-called "parking protected lanes". This puts parked cars between you and the traffic. There's usually a couple feet of "door zone" too, so you don't have to ride too close to the parked cars. In other places, you tend to have to dodge in and out of them to avoid trucks making deliveries who are using them as a parking space, and general jerks who are just idling in them. But given the way NYC people drive, it's better than nothing. I'd say my commute is about 60% bike lane.

jmilleronaire

A lot of them are regional trails that are technically open sunrise to sunset, but I see other people using them early in the morning before sunrise, and after sunset. It's basically a "technically only open while the sun's out but if you don't cause problems, you're welcome to them". The rest are wide MUP-style sidewalks alongside the major routes.

merkong

Truth be told, and I have a grandma, but the elderly, the obese, the overall unhealthy, and those who are addicted to cigarettes, booze and other drugs, eat up an disproportionate portion of healthcare resources. I'm no health nut but as a healhcare provider, I am sensitive to this quandry. You don't want the government or anyone else telling you how to live your life, but facts is facts... More bike lanes are good too. We have many in the Twin Cities.

SouthFLpix

When I can get them, I absolutely adore them. Where I live though, bike lanes are very rare.

Doohickie

That's why I love my city... the neighborhoods are "permeable"- you can get places by going through them.

Smart idea right there. Just cut bike/pedestrian access to a few of those cul-de-sacs to make the neighborhoods permeable. In those spots where connections are needed, the city has been supportive. There are currently two bridge projects in work that have dedicated pedestrian/cycle lanes that open up dead ends in the current cycling routes.

Steely Dan

+1

i love chicago's perfect grid because every single street is a through street. no cul-de-sacs or dead-ends anywhere in sight. now, out in the further-out burbs, it's a MUCH different, and far more annoying, story. thank god i don't have to live out in the dystopian hellscape of sprawlburbia.

i think bike lanes are alright in that they may make an intimidated beginner more inclined to think about hopping on a bike, but they don't have a profound effect on how and where i ride.

jdswitters

as an aside, and I realize without pictures this is pretty worthless, but the new bike lane symbol they paint on the pavement has a helmet. I assume it is a helmet, or else I am riding without the required bowl cut for my hair. The old ones (last years) didn't and I have been wondering who the nanny is that came up with the new templates.

Doohickie

Actually, even "sprawlburbia" in Fort Worth is reasonably decent for permeability. I live in the sprawl and can get from my house to lots of destinations using neighborhood routes. The learning curve for me was in realizing that not all run down, immigrant, or unexplored areas are "dangerous." In fact, around here, they are mostly just fine. The worst problems I've run into are from loose dogs, but so far they haven't caught me

yarb

I think a well-designed bike lane on a busy road is about the most cost-effective highway improvement you can make. You can turn a very intimidating route into an eminently rideable one with very little money and disruption.

Segregated lanes are good in very high-traffic areas but in most cases I prefer the flexibility of a wide, well-marked and well-integrated painted lane.

mechBgon

No, too many hazards.

1. door zone

2. cars stopping in the bike lane to parallel-park, or drop off/pick up a passenger. Or commercial trucks and armored trucks stopped for extended periods in the bike lane.

3. cars pulling out of their parking spots

4. debris accumulation (glass, chunks of broken pavement)

5. snowbanks that linger all winter into Spring

6. uneven surfaces and pavement seams that turn extremely hazardous with a bit of frost

7. the painted or thermoplastic bike-lane stripe disappears from road wear and is AWOL 6 months of the year anyway. What's the point?

8. do they actually go anywhere useful? Like across the city's bridges that cross the river from downtown to the residential area? Oh don't be silly, no one would EVAR want to ride ALL THE WAY FROM HOME TO DOWNTOWN. That would be, like, two MILES.

9. being that much closer to the parked cars makes it that much harder for pedestrian and automotive cross-traffic to avoid pulling out into my path, because I'm being hidden from their view by the parked cars.

commandcomm

I like bike lanes, but some need to actually use them properly to justify the need. My in laws live in Mesa, AZ and about every main road has a bike lane. However, I continuously saw people riding against traffic on the sidewalk. I wanted to pull over and yell at them to ride properly and use the bike lane, but you never know who you will encounter. The sidewalk is for walking and bicycles ride with traffic. I live in Monterey, CA and a 50/50 chance there is a bike lane. Guess what I see, people riding against traffic on the sidewalk. I am done ranting. We need to actually use the bike lane for it to be justified.

Steely Dan

you're lucky then. my sister lives out in sprawlburbia here in chicagoland and i sometimes ride my bike out to her place for visits, and it is a pain in the ass riding the last 5 miles to her house on a busy 4 lane arterial with no shoulder and 50mph traffic all because there is absolutely no side street alternate route that i can use as a go around because the street plan is so thoroughly cul-de-sac'ed. absolutely nothing connects with anything out there other than the big giant busy 4 lane arterials that pop up every mile or two.

you couldn't pay me to live out there. i much prefer the dystopian hellscapes of the big city and its magically interconnected street grid.

unterhausen

We have a couple of paths that cut through between streets that are a great idea. Otherwise I'm not too happy with the infrastructure.

our bike lanes are too narrow, and there are bike lanes on roads that don't need them at all due to low traffic. The one I ignore every day will get you hit by traffic coming out of an alley. A narrow bike lane on a narrow road will get you passed too closely on a regular basis. I don't think bike lanes should be striped on roads where a car in the lane will pass too closely no matter what the cyclist positioning in the bike lane. We have some nice paths, but they don't go to places where they should.

gmt13

Around here, BLs are a mixed bag, although the newer ones are planned a bit better. The problem is that they are either poorly maintained, don't make sense for the traffic pattern, or are so filled with road debris that they are hazardous. I also have mapped my commute on city and residential streets that do not have as much traffic and this seems to work well. One of the things that I like is that these days planning is focused on more than just traffic flow efficiency. They have taken a number of roads that had 2 lanes in each direction and turned them into 1 in both directions with a center turn lane AND an ample bike lane on each side. This still fills up with road debris but it is easier to avoid without leaving the BL.

-Gary

squirtdad

As a general statement I like the ones in san jose. The ones i use mostly are on Curtner and Leigh and are well marked and for the most part of proper width. Some of the bike lanes on smaller streets like willow are narrow. San Jose has a pretty forward looking plan and does a good job of getting the big lanes wider or better marked when the is repaving and or new construction.

LesterOfPuppets

I like the ones that are there. I just wish they went farther out into the country/woods. The ride out to the good MTB trails is about 22 miles, 12 of which are on a no-shoulder road that the locals drive way to fast on.

Doohickie

Yeah, metro Detroit was kind of like that when I lived there. Fortunately for me, I wasn't riding much when I lived there.


Things are already pretty good for cycling in Fort Worth, really. But I expect that having a recently-elected mayor who rides isn't going to hurt.

AlphaDogg

I hate the bike lanes here. They are too close to parked vehicles and too close to motor traffic.

But the MUPs here? Perfect.

frantik

yeah San Jose has tons of bike lanes.. but a lot of them still make you choose between riding in the door zone or riding close to traffic

I tend to take the lane and then use the bike lane to let cars pass.

Brittain

Bike lanes in Flagstaff are well done since they typically are placed on the less busy arterials (a MUP follows the major corridor east west across town). Plus the city uses sharrows on one street paralleling the major north-south arterial on the west side of town. Downtown (where there is parking along the street) bikes just take the lane. Granted, it's not as busy as many of the downtown areas that some of you guys and gals live in, but I've never had any difficulty with taking the lane.

I'll never say no to increased cycling infrastructure (especially if it's MUPs that are conveniently located and not shoved off to the outskirts of town), but I can't really complain (especially when I think back to the complete lack of cycling infrastructure in my home town in Texas).

Zrane

Bike lanes? MUPs? What are these strange things that you speak of?

skijor

These are exactly the kinds of ideas I'd love to see in Greenville's burbs. Greenville itself has a number of bike lanes. But to ride in the burbs is suicidal. That fact alone makes me regret moving here. I used to love commuting and utility biking. Now it's nearly out of the question. I have already started looking for a new job in a more bike-friendly community.

That said, Mia Birk, the "Portland-based bicycle transportation expert" just visited Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston last Friday. I found out about her visit the day after. Still good to hear of improvements/gears turning. It was mentioned that Portland was once a cluster fark just like Greenville. Hard to believe. Yes, Greenville is in the no-shoulder, no curb, no sidestreets, high speed cell-phone driver state of mind. It desperately needs all the bike lanes it can get.

Ira B

The bike lane along SR#20 between Oak Harbor and Coupeville WA used to be pretty good until WSDOT got the brilliant idea to grind rumble strips along the boundry between the bike lane and main roadway. These are a series of ground in potholes about 2 inches deep that are supposed to wake up motorists if they are drifting over the fog line.
They are right in that part of the bike lane where there is (used to be) the least debris so now you get to ride in all the broken glass and crap on the shoulder. If you happen to ride onto the rumble strips on a bike it is enough to shake the fillings right out of your teeth.
Idiots.

yarb

Have you emailed the local highway authority about this?

buzzman

I've been riding roughly the same route into Boston for more than 30 years now. For 28 years I rode it without bike lanes.

Bike lanes now cover about 7 miles of my 8.5 mile street commute. As for: With Bike Lanes VS Without Bike Lanes- With Bike Lanes wins hands down. And the increase in ridership is extraordinary since they were added. And despite the admonishments regarding "door lane bike lanes" there has been no increase in "doorings" despite an increase in bike riders.

If you are under the illusion that bike lanes and bike paths will break the bank you are not looking at the big picture. The money wasted in this country is NOT on things like bike lanes- it's a pittance of the overall transportation budget. Come to Boston to see Federal Gov't transportation dollars wasted on the "Big Dig"- a poorly administrated, bloated, shoddily executed project for automobile traffic that had virtually no oversight.

In a nation with an obesity epidemic and the resultant health costs that go with it as well as raging gas prices bike lanes help to reduce our overall costs and save money in other areas, if they are properly designed and implemented as they have been in NYC and Boston- the 2 places where I use them and greatly appreciate them.

Poorly designed, poorly implemented and/or poorly maintained bike lanes are not an excuse to not fund them they are a reason to improve them and make them better. When they are properly done they are a boon to cyclists.