tariqa

I know many riders will ride on busy streets, (myself included) just due to the fact that they are not afraid of danger and the roads are typically faster.

I am contemplating riding on a more busier street than usual.

What are your opinions on riding on busy streets?
Does the type of street matter?

I know Interstates I usually wouldnt consider however there are some routes in cities that are busy like interstates, and they are called highways but they are not exactly interstates or freeways.

For reference, freeways generally do not have intersections also known as interstates, expressways, etc.
However highways can also be defined as a street road with many intersections and moderate to high level traffic.

The highway route in my city turns into a freeway portion with high traffic and no intersections.
I probably wouldnt opt to ride on the freeway portion of it as I would surely not reach the minimum speed.


But the city route poriton of the highway is accessible, and legal, I just question how wise it is to do it.


Any highways, state or US routes, or possibly even freeways in your state that you ride or would advise against cycling on?

Or should cyclist strictly remain to the side streets, established bike routes, and low traffic roads?

tariqa

I have nothing against trails and bike routes, but riding through the street routes usually are much more efficient and faster.

if you are commuting, time is everything. However on leisure drives, I would probably always opt for a bike trail.

prathmann

AFAIK, riding on freeway shoulders where that is permitted has a good safety record, but is usually not particularly pleasant due to the noise level, poor scenery, and tire debris that includes fine wires likely to cause punctures in bicycle tires. But it's not frequently an option for commuting since usually freeways are only bike-legal in rural areas where there are no reasonable alternate routes available.

OTOH, urban expressways frequently allow bicycle travel although vehicle speeds and volumes on these roads are also high. I'd evaluate their safety on an individual basis judging by the quality of the shoulder, number and characteristics of intersections, etc. I've never had a regular commute on an expressway but have ridden on them occasionally when they were the best route for a particular destination.

Spld cyclist

Well, in most parts of the US, bikes aren't allowed on limited-access highways (i.e. interstates or freeways). So they're out of consideration regardless of safety.

Regarding higher-speed roads where bikes are permitted, for me it comes down to whether the outside lane is wide enough to let motor vehicles easily pass a cyclist or if there is a wide marked shoulder that is in good condition. In those circumstances, I think it's reasonably safe.

If there is a lower-speed, lower traffic alternative route that is reasonably direct, I would usually choose that over the high-speed road. Unfortunately, I don't have any bike paths or marked bike routes to choose from - there just aren't any where I live.

Artkansas 

There are some places where bikes are allowed. In San Diego, I used to get on I-5 at Genesee, and off again at the next exit to Sorrento Valley Rd. Any other way would have been over a 5 mile detour, which is why it was allowed.

It was an exciting downhill run, and yes, I had many conversations with the Highway Patrol who would try and tell me the error of my ways. I would explain the situation and promise that they would see the "Bicycles must exit" sign at the next off ramp. They would accompany me down the shoulder to the exit, I'd point at the sign and make my exit.

Oddly, in the afternoon, I did the same thing on the other side of the freeway, doing a steep climb. I was never bothered. I guess the CHP thought the hill was punishment enough.

You can also ride along the freeway between Ventura and Santa Barbara.

cruiserhead

you can bike all up and down the calif coast on the 1. Lots of people do it, I see it all the time.

I've done a group training ride in ventura where they hit the freeway for a bit and it felt pretty safe. Wide shoulders help

commuting? I can't think of any areas in LA county that would allow it

during rush hours, sometimes they have a critical mass thing that jumps on the freeway for short sections to make a point but that's about it

prathmann

I-5 is also bike-legal all the way from the Bay area (Tracy) up and over the Grapevine until you get to the outskirts of the LA area (Santa Clarita) - almost 300 miles. The only interactions we had with the CHP were friendly ones - just seeing how much progress we were making and asking if we needed water or anything else.

tariqa

Where I live the main US route is the higher speed way and the most efficient.
Most of the side roads are not very direct at all to get out the city. Many neighborhoods and dead ends.

The higher-speed main way has barely any room to let bikes on with a very narrow margin of white line to the curb.
No bike paths either on my side.

tariqa

I guess the more correct definition of the road I am talking about is the arterial roads.

Roads that look more like this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arterial_road

Limited access expressway roads. Similar to freeways but not the same.

Robert C

I5 is also bikeable in most of Northern California. The only bad stretch is when crossing Lake Shasta, for those who don't know, it is just a long and narrow bridge with no, reasonable, alternative routes. I would frequently ride from Hornbrook to Yreka getting off I5 at ST 263. In fact, I found th estate route to be much less comfortable than the interstate. The state route is very narrow with no shoulders in many places and tight turns.

GodsBassist

If the speed limit is 40+, then I like a shoulder on it. That's my personal preference because of actual traffic speed. I'll ride on anything with a shoulder, and most roads that are 35 or less as a general rule, but it just depends on the situation.

There's a freeway here, I ride on the shoulder with no problem, in fact the traffic pushes the air for you a little bit. =)

tariqa

Problem is the speed limit is about 45 but there are no shoulders....Its about as narrow a white line to the curb you can get as possible...

kookaburra1701

Going over Lake Shasta on I-5 makes me nervous in my car - the times I did it most was in the winter, when there was ice on the road. I always felt like I was the only driver not flooring the accelerator. If you go over the barrier, it's a long way down!

tarwheel 

Like others said, major highways usually aren't the most pleasant roads to ride on due to the traffic, lack of scenery, vehicles passing at high speeds, and large amounts of trucks. Most limited access highways don't allow bicycles, but there are some exceptions. The only advantage to major highways, IMHO, is that most of them have a wide paved shoulder -- but it is usually littered with debris. I only ride on such roads when there are no alternatives.

spivonious

PA doesn't allow bikes on limited access roads. Even if they did, I wouldn't ride on them. Cars flying past at 70mph 4-5 feet away from me? No thanks.

Spld cyclist

There are a lot of dead-end streets over here that would be good alternate routes if they connected to other dead-ends. When they were laid out, I think people wanted them that way to prevent through traffic. It would be great if there were short paved bike paths created to link them. In some cases, there are extensions of these streets that we call "paper streets," which were legally created out but never actually constructed. I see them sometimes when looking at parcel maps for my work.

A light bulb just went on for me - maybe I should look for some of these and suggest them to the city. The city recently determined that they wanted a bike project coordinator to be hired on a 1-year contract, so maybe something will actually happen....

David Bierbaum

Here in Illinois, they publish color-coded street safety maps for the Countys of Illinois, which shows how dangerous they are for bicyclists. There might be something similar for your State, County, or City, as well. Just my luck that I live in an Orange area, though really, it doesn't seem all that unsafe, with wide well-paved shoulders that are mostly debris free.

OneGoodLeg

I think when you ride is as important as where you ride. US1 on the east coast is my most direct route to work and bikes are allowed on it. It even has a OTR bike route on part of it. During the morning rush hour commute, there is no way in hell I'd ride on it. Way too many mass-holes. I do ride on a few other rural routes in the area, some can be kind of narrow, but most don't have a speed limit more than 40.


I've ridden US1 between 2am -6am on a Saturday morning on a ride from Boston to my house, about 30 miles, and it was awesome, no traffic, nice smooth pavement. I only saw about 10 cars the whole way. The only problem was that alot of high speed roads are crowned in the center, which can cause you to pushed to be pushed onto the shoulder at high speed. I was on a long downhill section and was topping 40+, scared ****-less due to the crown in the road causing me handling problems.


Massachusetts has the same type of maps available, in my experience they are useless. They don't take into account that some roads have really wide shoulders that are plenty wide enough to bike on without being close to the flow of traffic and vise-versa. Those colors are strictly based on the speed and volume of the traffic on the route, at peak times.

jyl

When car speeds get up into the 50 mph and higher range, there has to be a wide, rideable shoulder for me to consider riding there.

Expecting 50+ mph cars to safely swerve around a cyclist who is in the lane, is a bad idea. 990 drivers may do so, 9 may swerve just enough to give you a 2 foot 50 mph buzz or blow you off the road if they are a semi-trailer, and 1 may be tuning the radio or texting or rummaging around the bottom of the bag of chips then suddenly look up and see your ass right before . . .

So for example, Hwy 30 in the Portland area is a pretty high-speed road, average car speed 55-65 mph. Most of it has a 5 foot wide shoulder. I will ride that, but that is about the limit of my comfort zone for regular riding.

GodsBassist

There's a road like that here. I personally don't ride on it because real traffic speeds are going to be closer to 50-60, and there's just no room. I only have to go a little out of my way to avoid it though.

David Bierbaum

For me, another factor aside from wide shoulders, in high-speed roads, is how heavy the traffic is. As long as there are wide breaks between bouts of traffic, so I can safely navigate a left turn during a period of relative carlessness, then I'm comfortable riding there.

From what I can tell from personal experience, you're dead right about the maps, onegoodleg, but it's still better than nothing, and can at least give one a starting point to judge one's route. Google's satellite view is good for that too. You can zoom in and see what the road looks like, both in traffic, and in shoulder condition. If you're lucky, there can even be a street-view for your route...

caloso

I use arterial roads all the time. One caveat is to use tough tires and scan for debris; IME, these roads tend to have a lot of crap on the shoulders.

tariqa

Not scared about high speed traffic, small shoulders, or all the other reasons like everyone else is scared of?
No? Not even a little?

Drew Eckhardt 

It may be fine or not.

That would be a great place to ride given a wide shoulder. With no intersections you don't need to worry about idiots pulling in front of you from an intersection, some one turning left in front of you, or some one going around and making a right turn in front of you which collectively account for most situations where a car driver negligently hits a cyclist.

With one lane in each direction, no shoulder, narrow lanes, and blind curves riding their might border on suicide.

ItsJustMe

I wish bikes were allowed on the interstate here. IMO they'd be safer than the roads we are allowed on.

There's one stretch that I ride fairly often where the limit is 55, there's no shoulder (and often a dropoff of 3 or 4 inches into gravel just to the outside of the white line), the pavement is broken up and patched and very bad to ride on. Right alongside is an interstate where there is a 20 foot wide breakdown lane that is glass smooth, has rumble strips separating it, and never gets any vehicle on it except if they're actually broken down. Also very little debris out here.