squeakywheel

A couple days ago, I was surprised on the way home to see the main road I take into town was completely torn up. Bull dozers and steamrollers everywhere. Pretty much from my house to the city limits. Its a narrow 2 lane 50 mph paved road. I have always ridden on the 8 feet wide gravel shoulder. Looks like they are going to pave the whole width of the old road and shoulders!

Yep, I'll be joining the civilized world soon. I have visions of smooth asphalt and a white striped line demarking a bike lane. Oh yeah, that'l be the life. I'll have to celebrate by riding into town drinking champaign when they're done.

I think I need to buy a couple more skinny wheeled bikes.

ryanparrish

I feel like I ride slower on smooth asphault with skinny tires

MyPC8MyBrain

You might be dissapointed when they put in the giant center divider with no shoulder or bike lane

That's their favorite trick here in CO. Painting the white stripe on the edge of the asphalt.... with a useless 20' divider lane in the middle of the road.

jeff-o

Bring a case of beer to the construction workers, and ask them to build you a 5' bike lane.

same time

Ha ha ha. "I brought you some donuts and coffee! Mind if I borrow that line-painting truck a minute?"

Seriously, I hope they don't squeeze in four lanes where there used to be two.

squeakywheel

Well, if they do then one of them is mine!

You guys have me worried now.

squeakywheel

Crap!

The morons are rebuilding the road almost exactly as it was before. They tore up 8 miles of asphalt and couldn't be bothered to put down an extra 3 feet on each side for bike lanes when they rebuilt it. Boo hoo. What decade is this anyway. Hasn't there been some progress in civil engineering in the past 40 years. There is plenty of room for bike lanes. There's 8 feet of shoulder on each side of the road. Jeebus. Maybe I should write one of those pointless letters to the editor for the local news paper.

jyossarian

Or you could work w/ your local bike advocacy/bike club to organize a letter writing campaign to your city councilmen and the DOT. I doubt they'll add the bike lanes to the road they're doing now, but they may include them in future street projects.

squeakywheel

Well, I'll be dipped. They're back. I thought they were done. Last night on the ride home I saw they had the whole west shoulder paved and were working on the east. Woo hoo! I rode to work on solid pavement the whole way this morning. That's city living!

littledog

Those white lines painted on the right hand side of the road do not signify a bike lane. It is really a passing on the right lane for motorists.

littledog

squeakywheel

True, I might soon wish I had the gravel shoulder back.

KrautFed

I work for the local DOT desiging roads, and it's not as easy as plopping down some fresh asphalt. That shoulder is there for a reason, and a lot is required just for another 3ft. The extra land (ROW, easements, etc) has to be purchased from land owners at fair market value. Engineers have to spend extra time designing drainage, grading, intersections, etc to accomodate the extra (bike) lane. Utilities going underneath the roadway have to be lengthened and all checked by various inspectors and planners. Extra time is spent actually constructing the roadway with the extra lane, and it all adds up to some serious man-hours spent both designing and building.

I joke with my family/friends when they ask me, "Can you widen _______ Road?". My reply is, "Can I raise taxes?" ...there's your answer.

Caspar_s

From his description, it was already there (so no extra designing, just cost for the asphalt) as a shoulder. And they did pave it...

Back in the old country on my main commute route, they widened the road, added shoulders and improved the road (was a narrow, broken and repaved mess). That section got more dangerous because the cars probably doubled their speed along that section.

Artkansas 

That company must work here in Arkansas too. They repaved the road in front of work. It used to be narrow with 6" on the right side of the white line. They widened the road a foot on each side and painted the stripe 3" from the edge of the asphalt.

DataJunkie

We have a new road a few miles from my house. It is a fairly wide 2 lane road with wide gravel shoulders. WTH?
I was watching it being built from afar and noted that it would be a nice new route to my house. Not!
Anyhow, I still ride it but in the lane.