Originally Posted by
spare_wheel
many of the people who clamor for cycle tracks are simply unwilling to challenge current road, street, and highway design. in fact, the ridiculous and unhelpful "bike ambassador" meme originates from this camp. northern europe did not become a cycling mecca by making nice with motorists. cycling is in many respects in direct opposition to motoring.
i would also add that the majority of cyclists in portland who advocate for speed reduction, road diets, and traffic calming are separated-infrastructure skeptics. the cycletrackistas in portland are simply echoing the "bikes belong/people for bikes/green lane project" focus on separation, separation, and separation. i challenge anyone to find a single example of "bikes belong/people for bikes/green lane" advocating for a lowered speed limit, traffic calming, and mixing of traffic (even though this type of infrastructure is fairly common in europe).
Here in Eugene, we have a traffic planner who is a dedicated cycletrackista. In fact, he has lately been implementing odd bike lanes that are buffered from 25-30 mph traffic, which just pushes us further into the gutter and increases the odds of right-hooks/left crosses. He even does this when the other side of the street has dzbl's and could really use the buffer space being moved from the no-parking side to create a space between the bike lane and the parking. He's also a big fan of bike boxes, which he has also been putting in. Yet, last night he ran a meeting on a project through my neighborhood in which he was clearly pushing for traffic calming (and looking for cover to help put in traffic diversions) in order to try to make a street work better for cyclists. (If it matters, his name is Reed Dunbar.) Does he qualify for two out of three? (By the way, the speed limit on the street in question is 25 mph, which is also the 85th percentile speed. He wants to get the average below 15 mph.)
Of course, the real problem with this street is the crossings at arterioles, where there are no traffic controls for the plentiful, speeding cross traffic. Thus, no matter what he does the street will continue to be a failure as a so-called "bike boulevard". He doesn't have authority to change that, but I believe him when he tells me he would if he could.