Originally Posted by
B. Carfree
I was reading more in than was there. However, I believe there have been implementations in the past that you have supported that I would find substandard. On the continuum, we will sometimes draw the line in different places, although our ideal builds would probably be quite similar.
I suppose I get a bit over-sensitive about our right to the road and the role bike-specific infrastructure plays in that because I have spent the majority of my life in states with mandatory-use laws. It is rather unpleasant to have some ignorant motorist try to "teach me a lesson" by nearly hitting me just because I am riding where the law dictates I have a perfect right to be. I think it is reasonable to trace this conflict back to the poorly designed infrastructure and, as you know, all to many USaian proponents of what is done in N. Europe support these implementations. After all, the bike lanes in Amsterdam are mostly fully in the door zone, so some folks think that is how they should be. Considering the number of doors that have opened next to me as I sped past outside the door zone, I likely wouldn't be riding anymore if I had made a habit of riding in the door zone.
In all likelihood you might find the bike path I ride into Boston on every day as "sub standard". And I would more than likely agree. I would also rate the roads I could choose as an alternative as "sub standard" as well. They are also poorly maintained, pot holes and broken pavement often under construction for the crumbling gas and electric infrastructure under the pavement with poor designs at intersections and inadequate accommodations for the thousands of parked cars along its side as well as the entrances and exits from the hundreds of parking lots and businesses that line the route. The road was originally designed more than two centuries ago, eventually paved in the 1920's with increasing urbanization and building along its edges up to the present day.
Riding this road in the winter with ice and snow only exacerbates its poor conditions. I guess what I find somewhat disingenuous is to bemoan the poor design of bike infrastructure and ignore the piss poor condition and design of so many of our roadways.
While we do not have mandatory use laws here in Massachusetts I, too, have been "taught lessons" by arrogant motorists wishing to assert what they feel is their exclusive right to these roads. Aggressive driving in the winter is heightened by the lack of road space for bicyclists and motorists to safely "share the road".
I'm all for the right to the road but let's go the step further and make them roads worth fighting for the right to ride on. Otherwise I'd prefer to go for the separated alternative when it suits my needs- even if it is beneath my, or other's, standards.