Originally Posted by
spare_wheel
horsecrap. there is no battle between those who want bike lanes and vehicularists. there is a battle between those who have a one size fits all solution for bike infrastructure (e.g. the cheap and poorly-designed north american bike sidewalk) and those of us who have a less black and white vision. the sad thing is that cyclists are literally dying in our streets because copenhagenista fanatics refuse to learn from mistakes made in europe (e.g. bike boxes and mixing zones).
I'm inclined to agree. A repaving/restriping project is slated for my neighborhood this Spring. I got involved with the city traffic engineer and the city traffic planner last Spring when they were deciding what this "neighborhood collector" would look like when they finished. The president of the local bike club, a copenhagenista, also got involved. He pushed hard for an extended section of cylcletrack on this road that averages four or five driveways on each side (mostly serving multi-unit housing) per 366-foot block. Needless to say, that would have been a nightmare from a safety standpoint; it would have been similar to the current situation where many of the cyclists ride on the sidewalks.
Fortunately, in the end we got the traffic engineer to remove the parking on one side (a decision that is currently under appeal) in order to remove the door zone problem from one side and to then put a small buffer hatch between the parking and the other bike lane (8-foot parking, 2-foot hatch, 5-foot bike lane).
Angry e-mails flew every which way that only subsided after the residents were surveyed and showed an overwhelming enthusiasm (91% support) for the parking removal and bike lane buffering. Yeah, it was a battle.
The battlefield is now moving to the south side of town where similarly competing visions are being debated, along with the option of nothing at all.