Bike Friendly Routes?
 

Do you guys know of any sites that make it easy to find a bike-friendly route to a destination, I know some of the sites have options to avoid highways, but I tried that and there is a highway here that it isn't blocking and it would definitely be illegal to bike on it.

when you plot a route in google maps you can drag the line around to avoid roads that you don't want to travel on

There's also a check box on Google maps that says "avoid major highways." The map then automatically finds the most efficient non-Interstate/controlled highway route. Near major cities, however, those "non-highway" routes can also be very heavily trafficked.

I've been doing a lot of this kind of "wish-routing" on Google lately, and tweaking the route line around to fit smaller roads is very useful -- and lots of fun. Enjoy!

maps.ask.com has the feature to create walking routes, but it's not all that much better than google's "avoid highways" feature. I tend to draw my routes by hand in bikely.com, looking at the satellite photos where I'm in doubt.

I've had good luck with Google maps "avoid major highways" option, but I am fairly tolerant of traffic. This usually results in a ridable route. In any case it is still necessary to do some reality checking in some areas. If the reality check says that it selected a road that I don't want to ride I drag the route to somewhere preferable.

If in doubt ask people who know the area.

You could search Bikely.com for others who might have entered a route traversing the area. Depending on where "here" is, you may find some alternate routes created by others.

If you are trying to find a route in a rural area, perhaps your state department of transportation has either suggested bike routes or traffic count maps for highways that could be used to select suitable roads.

Where are you? You may have more luck posting in the regional forums.

Two thoughts:

First, many states have some form of a map for bikers. It usually shows the better biking roads.

Second, if doing a long distance trip, then consider ACA's maps.

Get a cheap GPS like the non-color Gamin Legend. Then get the software for that unit and here's what I discovered.

Using the auto routefeature on the GPS (or any software) returns horrible results. The only way to do it right is to do yourself. I like riding on city streets and subdivions but this type of planning takes time and lots of turns. Roads that appear in RED on the Garmin software are to be avoided. Roads that are a straight line are often fast highways and should be taken with caution.

Have fun making routes.