Poguemahone

It's official. I just got off the phone with traffic engineering for RVA, and the entire stretch photographed above is intended as a bike lane. Even the rut/fog lane. It was marked this morning with spray painted diamonds and the letter "B" today, indicating they will paint bike lane symbols in it, plus the city traffic engineers said it was a BL (they were starting to paint street markings--RR crossing, turn arrows, today). Their rationale for this design: "It's what we had to work with." I told them in no uncertain terms it was inadequate, and better they had done nothing. Apparently none of them ride bikes, I now have the name and number of the gentleman responsible for this "design" and will call him tomorrow. I was hoping I was over-reacting, that as other posters had said, this couldn't be a BL. It is. I would rather have been wrong.

I am off to cool down, by taking a bike ride, although not on this route. I have offered to take the traffic engineering folks on a ride down this lane, I stated my case best I could and got off the phone after they told me it was a BL. I'm preparing to write some letters, and will contact my city councillour tonight.