Originally Posted by
Lamplight
I think a lot of people I know are afraid to ride on the roads because they assume they'd have to ride the most direct route to get somewhere. Most of them always take only busy, main roads and highways when driving, so naturally they don't even think about other possibilities. Come to think of it, even when I still drove I would often take the quiet side streets just to get away from the madness.
I know exactly what you mean. For example, the Kanawha City area of Charleston's main drag is MacCorkle; riding a bike on most of MacC is downright scary. However, KC is laid out like a grid, so there are quiet streets running parallel to MacC; also, the cross-streets are numbered, so if you are heading for an address on MacC, just keep track of the numbers and you'll get there OK.
Other parts of the city have lots of little alleys, backstreets, and other ways to avoid the most heavily-travelled streets; some even can give you a more direct route than the main drags.