vol

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

fietsbob

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'..

CommuteCommando

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

Jim from Boston

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.

alan s 

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?

vol

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?

Giant Doofus

I commute on a combination of quiet residential streets, one stretch along a busy road with traffic, and through a nice city park. I chose the first and last options.

vol

Sorry, forgot to include local residential streets.

gregjones

I understand MUP to mean "Multi User Path" meaning walkers, joggers, stroller pushers and bikes, along with skates-boards and rollers.

Nothing to do with surface, but human powered transportation.

Papa Tom

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.

zacster

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.

alan s 

Pretty sure a paved trail is a MUP, but not all MUPs are paved.

DTG

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.

devianb

I use the paved side streets in the city. They have almost no traffic. I avoid the streets with brick roads.

Bike Gremlin

City streets with traffic and this:

mister

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.

downwinded

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.

FenderTL5

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.

ItsJustMe

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.

mconlonx

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."

dramiscram

Rural roads, a 90 kmh speed limit but there's no traffic (5-10 cars/hours)

spivonious

Busy suburban streets with moderate to heavy traffic, speed limits ranging from 25-45mph. Shoulders ranging from none to 6 feet wide.

noglider 

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.