View Poll Results: What type of road do you commute on?
metropolitan city streets with heavy traffic



41
61.19%
MUP (minus crowded city streets)



25
37.31%
paved trail



12
17.91%
unpaved trail / dirt road



9
13.43%
highway



14
20.90%
Other



22
32.84%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 67. You may not vote on this poll
What type of road do you commute on?
#1
Thread Starter
Senior Member

Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,816
Likes: 23
What type of road do you commute on?
I'm interested to know what types of road most people commute on. I'm sure I haven't included all types, and some included ones have overlapping, so feel free to post comments.
Note this is a multiple-choice poll, so check all the types involved in your commute (but only if it's a significant part). Thanks for taking the poll
Note this is a multiple-choice poll, so check all the types involved in your commute (but only if it's a significant part). Thanks for taking the poll
#2
Banned
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 43,586
Likes: 1,380
From: NW,Oregon Coast
Bikes: 8
It's a small town, sidewalks, 4 lane state highway as it passes thru town planked in Trestles and RR tracks
and an MUP along the river bank..
I am as much retired as working , on the rung less ladder to the 'top'..
and an MUP along the river bank..
I am as much retired as working , on the rung less ladder to the 'top'..

#3
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,082
Likes: 24
From: Southern CaliFORNIA.
Bikes: KHS Alite 500, Trek 7.2 FX , Masi Partenza, Masi Fixed Special, Masi Cran Criterium
I picked the first 3. I use the MUP/paved trail as much as possible since it is not too crowded during the week, and it bypasses some really long traffic signals. https://www.strava.com/activities/107352184
#4
I voted metropolitan city streets (with heavy traffic), though I usually commute early in the morning before traffic gets heavy, and I ride in the reverse commute direction from downtown to the suburbs. I also voted Other because much of my riding, 14 miles one way in total, is on light commercial and residential streets in Boston and adjacent suburbs. I did not vote MUP, because that is my least traveled route, about one mile at most.
All in all, it's a most safe and desirable route, though I did get hit from behind by a careless driver on a reasonably safe segment. Not to sound too morose, but I recently posted elsewhere:
I still do cycle commute though, and finally, I have the opportunity of taking the train from my workplace to a station within 2 miles of my home, when the city streets are more heavily traveled.
All in all, it's a most safe and desirable route, though I did get hit from behind by a careless driver on a reasonably safe segment. Not to sound too morose, but I recently posted elsewhere:
...In any case, I was still hit by a careless driver on a wide, lightly-traveled section last year, losing three months of work. So I am reluctant to encourage anyone to cycle-commute (or even ride a bike in traffic
) though I heartily support even the most adventuresome, yet careful cyclist.
One major confidence booster IMO, beside hi-visibility lights and clothing, safe routes, and prudent cycling behavior, is use of a rear-view mirror. In fact, I wear two, left and right...
) though I heartily support even the most adventuresome, yet careful cyclist.One major confidence booster IMO, beside hi-visibility lights and clothing, safe routes, and prudent cycling behavior, is use of a rear-view mirror. In fact, I wear two, left and right...
#5
Selected all except highway. My route is mostly paved MUP, with a some of each of the other types. Also ride on city streets with light traffic (not an option), through parking lots, across foot bridges and on sidewalks (bikes allowed AFAIK). Even walk my bike up and down stairs. What's the difference between a MUP and a paved trail?
#6
Thread Starter
Senior Member

Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,816
Likes: 23
I didn't list "sidewalks" because I didn't think it would compose a significant part of one's commute
.
I'm not sure, either, but by paved trail I have in mind something like this:
Also are most city streets also MUP?
.I'm not sure, either, but by paved trail I have in mind something like this:
Also are most city streets also MUP?
#8
Thread Starter
Senior Member

Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,816
Likes: 23
#9
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,828
Likes: 1
From: West Georgia
Bikes: K2 Mod 5.0 Roadie, Fuji Commuter
#10
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 4,441
Likes: 235
I start on my suburban neighborhood street, proceed to a peaceful country road, turn onto a busy four-lane road with a painted bike lane, cross a crazy-busy turnpike, hold my breath as I navigate the continuation of the bike lane on what becomes a very narrow two-lane road, turn into a neighborhood like my own, cut across some grass to an opening in a fence, and ride the last 200-300 feet of my commute on a dirt path.
#11
Senior Member

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 8,162
Likes: 647
From: Brooklyn NY
Bikes: Kuota Kredo/Chorus, Trek 7000 commuter, Trek 8000 MTB and a few others
I start in my quiet neighborhood on lightly trafficked streets, then go through Prospect Park where the 3 lane road is divided up as 1 jogger lane, 1 bike lane and 1 car lane. From there it is out on streets marked as bike share, and then a bike lane to the Manhattan Bridge which has a bike only path on one side completely away from the cars, actually separated by the subway tracks. Once in Manhattan it is bike lanes all the way up to 42nd St for me. You still have to watch for turning cars and clueless pedestrians.
#12
#13
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 216
Likes: 2
From: Portland, Or
I live in Portland so 75% of my commute is on neighborhood greenways/bike boulevards. They are classified as low stress streets with 20mph speed limits with hardly any car traffic. It's there but hardly since most motorist know of these streets to be full of commuters coming into the city.
#16
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 788
Likes: 17
From: Santa Rosa, CA
Bikes: Checkpoint ALR 5, Fuel EX 9.8 GX AXS, FX 4
I ride on city streets with light traffic as well as Highway 101. I live in a rural area though and the 101 is also the main street through town. Most of the streets have a speed limit of either 25 or 30 and I don't have much traffic to contend with until I obit the 101. Coming from the busy streets of Southern California, these streets are empty and wonderful.
#17
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 730
Likes: 0
From: WKY
Bikes: 2014 Trek Crossrip LTD, 2013 Raleigh Misceo
Fairly low traffic residential streets in the morning. Evening starts out and ends on the the same. Then the MUP. A parking lot, a short jaunt through a park and a couple of blocks on the sidewalk tie the ride home together. I checked MUP and other.
#18
Senior Member
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 794
Likes: 0
From: Nashville TN
Bikes: Trek 7.3FX, Diamondback Edgewood hybrid, KHS Montana
I checked them all. My route begins in a suburban subdivision fifteen miles from my downtown office. I'm out onto a suburban street, then onto a highway. Off the highway to a city street, then a greenway. From the greenway I transition through an inner-city neighborhood, then apartments and college campus. Next I go through a city park (Centennial/Parthenon), then onto city streets. I have to cross the interstate on a heavily trafficked city street, but then cut over and weave through the downtown streets to my office on lower Broadway.
On the way home, there's a spot where the street ends and I cut across a gravel/mud path through some fencing and back onto another street.
I'm pretty sure, I hit all of the above every day.
On the way home, there's a spot where the street ends and I cut across a gravel/mud path through some fencing and back onto another street.
I'm pretty sure, I hit all of the above every day.
#19
Señior Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 13,748
Likes: 10
From: Michigan
Bikes: Windsor Fens, Giant Seek 0 (2014, Alfine 8 + discs)
I don't really know what to check there. Is a "highway" an expressway or a normal 50 MPH road?
My route is 80% rural, about 40% of it is gravel road (I haven't seen a "dirt" road for decades, at least not in this country. All gravel here). The remainder of the rural area is 2 lane 50+MPH road. I have about a mile in a small town, still 2 lane but with a center turn lane for most of it. The last mile has a rideable shoulder, apart from that, the white line is 2 inches from the gravel.
There are no paths anywhere around here as far as I know, at least none that go anywhere. There are some isolated parks with recreational trails that just go around in a circle.
My route is 80% rural, about 40% of it is gravel road (I haven't seen a "dirt" road for decades, at least not in this country. All gravel here). The remainder of the rural area is 2 lane 50+MPH road. I have about a mile in a small town, still 2 lane but with a center turn lane for most of it. The last mile has a rideable shoulder, apart from that, the white line is 2 inches from the gravel.
There are no paths anywhere around here as far as I know, at least none that go anywhere. There are some isolated parks with recreational trails that just go around in a circle.
__________________
Work: the 8 hours that separates bike rides.
Work: the 8 hours that separates bike rides.
#20
Busy metro streets, but we're not in a metro area, just centers of rural/suburban congestion.
More typical and why I also checked "other" would be: rural two-lane roads, with fast inter-town traffic, and no shoulders.
And if the potholes and frostheaves apparent from last week's quick melt is any indication, this spring, those roads will be more probably described as "rutted, gnarly goat paths."
More typical and why I also checked "other" would be: rural two-lane roads, with fast inter-town traffic, and no shoulders.
And if the potholes and frostheaves apparent from last week's quick melt is any indication, this spring, those roads will be more probably described as "rutted, gnarly goat paths."
#23
aka Tom Reingold




Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 44,163
Likes: 6,383
From: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA
Bikes: 1962 Rudge Sports, 1971 Raleigh Super Course, 1971 Raleigh Pro Track, 1974 Raleigh International, 1975 Viscount Fixie, 1982 McLean, 1996 Lemond (Ti), 2002 Burley Zydeco tandem
The MUP near me (the Hudson River Greenway) is so darned useful, that I'm finding it's worth putting on extra distance to it and from it. Once I'm on it, I can fly. It is very narrow, and passing others is tricky, but everyone is used to being passed with little clearance. There are very few lights on it, and when they are red, there is often no cross traffic at all, so I hardly ever have to stop at all. The time I can make on the path is astonishing, compared with the city streets.
__________________
Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
New York City and High Falls, NY
Blogs: The Experienced Cyclist; noglider's ride blog
“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author
Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
New York City and High Falls, NY
Blogs: The Experienced Cyclist; noglider's ride blog
“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author
Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
AlmostTrick
Commuting
51
11-11-10 12:15 PM




