sggoodri

Where I live, motorists have most strongly supported bikeways in the form of sidewalk-type bike paths. They prefer these over bike lanes, because by getting double-duty out of the sidewalk, the full width of the roadway can be devoted to getting as many travel lanes as possible for motor vehicles. These motorists also support mandatory sidepath-use laws, in order to ensure that no cyclists remain in the narrow travel lanes. This is how the bikeway system in my area of the country developed for decades, and it continues to be a battle, with many sidewalk bikeways still being proposed, designed, and built.

Fortunately, cyclists have recently begun to convince a younger, more open minded generation of local traffic engineers and planners that cycling on the roadway according to vehicular rules is better than sidewalk/sidepath cycling. These engineers have started to shift from the sidewalk/sidepath bikeway designs to wide outside lanes and striped bike lanes. The motorists support either design, since both reduce the perception of delay by bicycle traffic. However, many frontage property owners oppose the on-roadway space additions, because they encroach more into their property when added to a road widening project. If the property owner opposition threatens to prevent the widening of the road to add travel lanes usable by motorists, the motorists often side with the property owners and promote sidewalk bike paths instead of the WOLs/bike lanes. if the property owners' political power is weak, the motorists support the on-road bike lanes, since they know some cyclists won't ride on the sidewalks without the mandatory-sidepath-use ordinance enforced. I have seen this process repeat itself with several thoroughfare widening projects in my city while serving on our planning and zoning board.

Locally, the strongest support from the cycling community was for wide outside lanes on the thoroughfares. The polls of my own cycling club have always turned out a strong majority in favor of wide outside lanes instead of striped bike lanes. Most cyclists will accept anything that provides wider total space, but there is a majority here who find operational problems with the way bike lanes have been implemented and unmaintained, at least locally.

John Forester has always said that cyclists prefer more space on the roadway, that this extra space reduces their stress, and it encourages more cycling. He promotes wide outside lanes as the specific implementation, rather than adding a stripe to the same space to demarcate a bike lane. A majority of the experienced cyclists I know agree with him, and I've never been able to find a report of an overtaking collision in one of our local wide outside lanes, so that's what our local standard is for new and widened thoroughfares.