Originally Posted by bkjames00

I'm not going to lie and say it's the safest route in the world, but I've researched it thoroughly and there aren't any alternatives that are better. Not that anyone asked for it, but here's a rough breakdown. (I live in Atlanta, by the way, so maybe some of you have experience with motorists here...)

Starting at home (first 45-60 minutes is in the dark.. have a minewt Niterider 600, taillights, and 3 other rear blinkies):

3-4 miles in my neighborhood, very residential and then a long stretch of a paved walk/bike trail running alongside a 5 lane road with a median. (by far the safest stretch)

Cross a major 5 lane roadway (following all traffic laws, of course)

1 miles on a very sparsely driven industrial park road (2 lanes). There are semi's (it's industrial after all), but few and far between and the roads are wide.

Next is about a quarter mile of very heavily and fast (45mph) traveled 5 lane road (4 lanes and a center 'suicide' lane). Unfortunately, here I only feel safe riding on the grass and through a couple parking lots (no sidewalks). Getting across the road takes patience.

2-3 miles of industrial park road like above

1 mile on a 5 lane road like above but much less and slower traffic. Here I stay on the sidewalk (some grass). Some people might feel comfortable riding in the lane, but not me yet because I worry about a car coming up fast and getting 'wedged in' if there's another car on their left and they can't get around me. (Does that make sense?)

2-3 miles on a 4 lane road (pretty sparsely traveled so I will ride in the lane but sometimes will hop on the sidewalk if I see a lot of traffic coming up behind me.)

Cross a major 5 lane roadway (following all traffic laws, of course)

2-3 miles on wide 2 lane residential roads

2- 3 miles on an interstate access or frontage road (if you're not familiar with these, they run parallel to the interstate in some places to allow access to apartments, businesses, etc., between highway exits. This one has a wide shoulder about half the size of a traffic lane. It's used extensively by pedestrians (in fact there are bus stops along it).

So that's it. I imagine I may stir up a sidewalk/ no sidewalk debate. But as I explained there are just some places where I would not feel safe I weren't on the sidewalk and I would really piss off some motorists. Maybe that's an indication of the safety, though?