Originally Posted by
Papa Tom
I think what Ferdinand was saying is that, in the context of a ride that includes roads like Astoria Blvd and the Queens portion of Northern Blvd, Merrick Road is not so different. I'd agree with that. But for the sake of a newbie rider unfamiliar with those roads, I felt compelled to defend my position on using Merrick Road alternatives.
Yes, I can see how Merrick Road as well as any of the other streets I mentioned would be off-putting to a new bicyclist. My comments were really intended for people who bike a lot, I suppose.
Originally Posted by
oldnslow2
I don't have a problem with cars whizzing by at 50mph, it's the parked cars that open doors or pull out without any warning.
Originally Posted by
Papa Tom
+1 for oldnslow's comment about parked cars being as much or more of a danger than moving ones.
I, too, can agree with that. And not only do parked cars represent a danger to us bicyclists, they also constitute a important part of the deep cultural problem to which I alluded above. On-street parking is a central feature of the distastrously wrong-headed policy of encouraging and accommodating widespread individual car ownership.
Originally Posted by
Steve B.
Merrick Rd may not be any worse then many city streets, but if we have alternatives, we use them. Just as the NYC on-street bike lanes try to avoid the the more congested streets, so do we.
New York City's bike lanes don't really avoid congested streets. Indeed, part of the point of bike lanes is to make these big congested streets more usable for bicyclists. These big streets typically go a long way; so they are particularly useful for bike travel. Examples of such bike lanes are found on many Manhattan avenues, and also on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn (which boasts New York City's longest on-street bike lane contained on a single street) has some quiet residential sections; but it also has wide congested sections.
Still, we do have a few bike lanes on pleasant small streets that even newbies would be happy to ride on, such as Dean Street and Bergen Street in Brooklyn, and Woodward Avenue and Onderdonk Avenue in Queens.
Anyway, I get the point of not taking Merrick Road if you don't have to; I treat Queens Blvd. the same way, especially during morning and evening rush hours. (Though a bike lane has just opened along a one-mile stretch of that street, and I have made plenty of use of it already.)
Originally Posted by
Steve B.
I find Sunrise on a weekend to be a better route then Merrick Rd. as it typically has a parking lane that isn't used much on weekends. Merrick is typically 2 lanes of 50mph, no decent shoulder and countless strip malls and shops with cars entering/exiting. No thanks.
This surprises me! I guess I had some early bad experiences with Sunrise Highway back when I was a kid; and it left a deep impression. I grew up in eastern Queens before escaping to the urbanised parts after I got older; and one time during my early explorations I found myself near the Green Acres Mall. Yow! Let me outta here!
I must say that all subsequent brushes with Sunrise Highway have only tended to reinforce that perception. So I would be intererested to know what section of that (to me) fearsome street you find navigable on the weekends.
Back to the Bethpage Bikeway -- the question now is how to get the Washington Avenue entry to it. If I go there, I will be coming from a point just over the City line on Union Tpke. The idea is to get there while avoiding Jericho Tpke. and Old Country Road -- both of which I consider more frightening than Merrick Road, incidentally.
From visiting my mother I am already familiar with the route through Mineola, Carle Place, and Westbury on Westbury Ave. / Maple Ave. And I have taken Union Avenue from the end of Maple up to a nice little bike lane on Prospect Avenue in New Cassel. Prospect Avenue becomes John Street in Hicksville. And then it ends just past 106/107.
From that point, the most direct eastward through street is Old Country Road. No, thanks. I could take Woodbury Road for a stretch; but I took that street once last year and I really didn't like it at all. (And Papa Tom mentions his dislike for it in this thread.) Despite my trepidation, that seems to be my best -- or least worst -- option.
A look at the map shows that I will then have to wiggle my way through Plainview (in part using a nice little street with the lovely and familiar name of Jamaica Avenue). I see a street called Manetto Hill Road that connects to Washington Avenue near where I want to go; but the pictures I see of that street look pretty bad.
I could attack the whole thing from the north; but that gets me into the hills that I am seeking to avoid by getting on the Bethpage Bikeway at Washington Avenue rather than at Woodbury Road.
So, if anyone has some suggestions regarding getting from the end of John Street in Hicksville to the entry to the Bethpage Bikeway on Washington Avenue, then I'd be happy to receive them. But it appears that I will just have to deal with some unpleasant sections of some shoulderless streets in order to get there.
And, when I get to the bottom of the Bethpage Bikeway, I guess I will be able to compare these streets to Merrick Road, because I will have to get back home! Actually, I think I will take Merrick Road only as far as Merrick Avenue, and then go up to Stewart Avenue, which is a much nicer way to head back towards Queens than are Jericho and Hempstead Turnpikes.