we have a similar situation here in buffalo. there is a major north south artery leading downtown (delaware ave) that is 4 lanes of crazy fast aggressive traffic at all hours. both streets parallel to delaware (elmwood and linwood) have bike lanes. elmwood is 2 lanes of shopping corridor and there are lots of bikes and slow traffic. linwood is a wide 1 way with dedicated bike lanes in both directions. every time I see someone cycling down delaware I want to slap them (and I'm a cyclist!).
go one block in either direction to get where you're going. stubbornness won't save you when you get rolled by angry soccer moms in rush hour traffic.