Originally Posted by apricissimus

I'm far from elite, but I find myself very often riding outside the bike lane for safety reasons. I've come to realize that I don't want bike lanes in my city. Very often they are located precisely where obstructions tend to naturally occur in city streets.

In my experience, bike lanes are almost always unnecessary (though I would allow for the possibility that they might be more useful in other locations, places I'm not familiar with). I feel fortunate that I started riding in Boston where bike lanes are virtually non-existent. As a result I learn how to negotiate traffic on my bike, and never relied on the false sense of security that bike lanes provide.

Are you familiar with the riding conditions in that large Texas city you mentioned? It might be that bike lanes just don't make sense there, like they don't make sense in Boston (in my opinion).