How's the bike infrastructure where you ride?

[AvalancheRun]

Just think that a dozen years ago I was convicted by an administrative court for driving through red lights, and it was only a quarter of a second! I could only have received a ticket but fell victim to the reorganization of the traffic enforcement system at that time

Not funny to see a cop at your front door...

In many parts of the US right now drivers can run red lights all day without fear of consequence. Drivers here and elsewhere will also just go through red if it’s clear.

Texas outlawed red-light cams, and generally speaking I believe it’s difficult/impossible to charge a person for other moving violations unless caught in the act on scene. Video of the vehicle with license plate is not enough.

Even though it might seem like overkill, I’m ready for serious traffic enforcement. Cars kill and maim too many people.

 

[steve mercier]

I'm lucky in that my local drivers are generally pretty good about bikes.

If I had to single out one group as the worst by vehicle type, it would be the pickup truck set. Some like to drive with one wheel in their lane and the other on the striped buffer between their lane and mine. Could be a power or control thing, laziness, distracted driving, lack of skill, fantasy of driving a truck too big for a car lane, who knows?

You said it....when we are riding in a group we warn each other by shouting " F**k up truck" whenever we see one approaching from the rear stradling the right lines on the shoulder, or speeding or just generally driving in an aggressive way.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

San Diego infrastructure update:

San Diego gets $2.25M grant for pedestrian, bicycle safety

This is the second consecutive year that San Diego has received funding from the program. Last year, the city received $680,000 to develop a Comprehensive Speed Management Plan, Historically Disadvantaged Community Quick Build Program and Slow Streets Program.

www.kpbs.org

This is most welcome. I gave the infrastructure here in North County an 8/10 here, but the parts of downtown I'm familiar with would get a 5/10 at best.

That big step down in infrastructure and sense of safety is a big barrier to exploring this beautiful, vibrant city and bay by bike. And it's easy to throw the bikes on the train to get there.

Just a taste of the views from Shelter Island and Point Loma.

 

[steve mercier]

San Diego infrastructure update:

San Diego gets $2.25M grant for pedestrian, bicycle safety

This is the second consecutive year that San Diego has received funding from the program. Last year, the city received $680,000 to develop a Comprehensive Speed Management Plan, Historically Disadvantaged Community Quick Build Program and Slow Streets Program.

www.kpbs.org

This is most welcome. I gave the infrastructure here in North County an 8/10 here, but the parts of downtown I'm familiar with would get a 5/10 at best.

That big step down in infrastructure and sense of safety is a big barrier to exploring this beautiful, vibrant city and bay by bike. And it's easy to throw the bikes on the train to get there.

View attachment 167994
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Just a taste of the views from Shelter Island and Point Loma.

I spent a month down there a few years ago....I would have rated it a 3 at best.

 

[PedalUma]

Our City is seriously considering taking the speed limit in residential areas down to 20 mph, similar to what Amsterdam just did city-wide.

 

[BlackHand]

Our City is seriously considering taking the speed limit in residential areas down to 20 mph, similar to what Amsterdam just did city-wide.

That's what it is in Seattle.

Know the limit: 20 MPH on all residential streets, 25 MPH on most arterials (streets with a yellow line down the middle) in Seattle.

 

[PedalUma]

That's what it is in Seattle.

Thanks, I will pass that on. It is good to know there is a working precedent domestically.

 

[Paris]

Q: On a scale of 0 to 10, how would you rate the bike infrastructure where you usually ride?

Please share the area being rated and give us some idea of the reasons for your rating. If you have a helpful comparison, please share that, too. I'll start....

Coastal San Diego County, California: At least 8/10 overall north of San Diego proper — i.e., Del Mar to Oceanside.

Wide, well-marked bike lanes on all major and many lesser roads, some with physical barriers; many well-marked shared bike/car lanes where necessary; many MUPs; some totally separated bike paths. Bikes everywhere.

Drivers here are generally used to the bikeways and respect them. Pedestrians and runners are often the biggest threats — especially in touristy areas. Runners seem determined to take over some of the dedicated bike paths — even when they have dedicated pedestrian paths to run on.

Of course, the infrastructure here's not as impressive as Amsterdam's, but top-notch by US standards. In contrast, almost NO bike infrastructure where I am at the moment — Concord, CA, at the NE corner of the San Francisco Bay Area. Decided NOT to a rent a bike here for that very reason. Very few bikes on the streets.

I always feel lucky because my region of Northern Virginia has a very good system of dedicated bike paths. I live about seven miles west of Mount Vernon, and if I go not more than a quarter mile from my home riding through a suburban neighborhood, I will find myself on beautifully paved bike path which connects to the Mount Vernon Trail which is another well-paved bike path along the Potomac River. That goes for fifteen miles before connecting to another paved trail which leads to the C&O towpath, which after one-hundred and eighty-five miles connects to the GAP trail in Cumberland, Maryland, which goes to Pittsburg. Although I have never yet done it, I could go from my home to Pittsburg, almost four-hundred miles away, without traveling more than a half a mile on anything but an off-road, mostly well-surfaced, bike path.

 

[Art Deco]

From the archives: Boomers and bikes were made for each other

There are alternatives to driving that can work just about anywhere.

lloydalter.substack.com

As we rebuild infrastructure in the states can we learn anything from Europe?

 

[Mr. Coffee]

As we rebuild infrastructure in the states can we learn anything from Europe?

If we can ever get past the Not Invented Here crap there is a whole lot we could learn from other countries, not merely in bicycle infra. And there is nothing wrong with learning something new from someone else.

 

[Art Deco]

If we can ever get past the Not Invented Here crap there is a whole lot we could learn from other countries, not merely in bicycle infra. And there is nothing wrong with learning something new from someone else.

Cheaper to learn from other's experience than our mistakes...

 

[Art Deco]

A dangerous detour from safe streets

You might say the vehicular cycling movement is car culture on two wheels.

speakeasy.substack.com

 

[steve mercier]

A dangerous detour from safe streets

You might say the vehicular cycling movement is car culture on two wheels.

speakeasy.substack.com

I read that excellent book "Effective Cycling 30" years ago ! It taught me how to navigate in traffic. Everyone should read it.

 

[Art Deco]

I read that excellent book "Effective Cycling 30" years ago ! It taught me how to navigate in traffic. Everyone should read it.

I wasn't familiar with the original book, but the main point of the article is that "sharing the lane" just doesn't work, even for very skilled cyclists. Really not even for motorcycles.
A person on a bike (200-300 lbs at 20 mph) and a 3000-4000 lb SUV going 50 mph need very different infrastructure .

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Walnut Creek, CA 2/10
Concord, CA 1/10

Visiting here on family business with no bike. Can't say I've seen all of the downtown area or the west side suburb where we're staying. But what little bike infrastructure I've seen is token at best and riddled with huge and dangerous gaps. Rating doesn't include nearby open spaces like Shell Ridge, where I used to ride my MTB.

Thought about renting an ebike for a few days, but no way I'd ride a bike in the area I'm rating here.

Came to Walnut Creek often when we lived in nearby Orinda 20+ years ago. We referred to it as "Wallet Creek" for the conspicuous affluence on parade then, and that's only grown since. There was no Maserati dealer then. Ditto for the McLaren dealer a few blocks down.

In a community with that kind of residential and commercial tax base, you'd think they could do better. But to be fair, not sure where they'd put more bike infrastructure even if they wanted to. Lots of traffic in this commercial and shopping hub, and the downtown and surrounding streets are already seriously oversubscribed.

The bike infrastructure's even worse in much less affluent Concord, CA, the next East Bay city of size to the north.

The infrastructure contrast between these important urban/suburban centers and my current suburban setting in coastal north San Diego County is night and day.

 

[fooferdoggie]

This is a cool signal indicator let you know how much time is left though though the indicator runs counter clockwise. It can be triggered by a bike too

 

[mschwett]

Walnut Creek, CA 2/10
Concord, CA 1/10

Visiting here on family business with no bike. Can't say I've seen all of the downtown area or the west side suburb where we're staying. But what little bike infrastructure I've seen is token at best and riddled with huge and dangerous gaps. Rating doesn't include nearby open spaces like Shell Ridge, where I used to ride my MTB.

Thought about renting an ebike for a few days, but no way I'd ride a bike in the area I'm rating here.

Came to Walnut Creek often when we lived in nearby Orinda 20+ years ago. We referred to it as "Wallet Creek" for the conspicuous affluence on parade then, and that's only grown since. There was no Maserati dealer then. Ditto for the McLaren dealer a few blocks down.

In a community with that kind of residential and commercial tax base, you'd think they could do better. But to be fair, not sure where they'd put more bike infrastructure even if they wanted to. Lots of traffic in this commercial and shopping hub, and the downtown and surrounding streets are already seriously oversubscribed.

The bike infrastructure's even worse in much less affluent Concord, CA, the next East Bay city of size to the north.

The infrastructure contrast between these important urban/suburban centers and my current suburban setting in coastal north San Diego County is night and day.

I have to wonder if there is another factor at work here, which is familiarity, or lack thereof. I dislike cycling in suburbs - period - but Walnut Creek does have the iron horse trail running the full north-south length (and much further beyond) which intersects the contra costa canal trail which runs roughly in a half loop from concord down towards Walnut Creek and back up, intersecting several other bikeways. in fact, one could ride from more or less the middle of concord to Walnut Creek Bart almost entirely on a fully separated bikeway, put your bike on a train and be in any of a dozen cities full of even more bike lanes and great bikeways. Besides the iron horse and canal bikeways, there are lots of bike lanes in Walnut Creek, and while the burbs are not my cup of tea, the PfB bike raring for Walnut Creek is probably pretty accurate at 37/100, crappy but significantly higher than most cities in California, like Los Angeles, San Diego, or Carlsbad, but much, much lower than the handful of California cities which have truly committed to bike infrastructure like Berkeley, San Francisco, or Davis.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I have to wonder if there is another factor at work here, which is familiarity, or lack thereof. I dislike cycling in suburbs - period - but Walnut Creek does have the iron horse trail running the full north-south length (and much further beyond) which intersects the contra costa canal trail which runs roughly in a half loop from concord down towards Walnut Creek and back up, intersecting several other bikeways. in fact, one could ride from more or less the middle of concord to Walnut Creek Bart almost entirely on a fully separated bikeway, put your bike on a train and be in any of a dozen cities full of even more bike lanes and great bikeways. Besides the iron horse and canal bikeways, there are lots of bike lanes in Walnut Creek, and while the burbs are not my cup of tea, the PfB bike raring for Walnut Creek is probably pretty accurate at 37/100, crappy but significantly higher than most cities in California, like Los Angeles, San Diego, or Carlsbad, but much, much lower than the handful of California cities which have truly committed to bike infrastructure like Berkeley, San Francisco, or Davis.

I have to disagree. Walnut Creek may have the trails you mentioned, but a few trails don't make up for the generally poor infrastructure I've seen in much of downtown. Not a place I'd want to commute through.

In contrast, there are wide, continuous bike lanes of various kinds nearly everywhere in Carlsbad, both downtown (Carlsbad Village) and in surrounding areas, and I can get anywhere in relative safety.

 

[Marcela]

The best thing for me about where I live, Lawrence, KS, is the bike infrastructure, and the close proximity of most anything for shopping. The 8' wide bike lanes are many, and it is just about completed to surround the entire city.

For a quick map of bike lanes, I go to realtor.com and look up a city and there is a tab to bring up the bike paths under transit, lets me know pretty quick what the bike structure looks like. I've been looking for a place to move and that is one of the criteria I look at.

Can you imagine living without fear or judgement?

 

[Kayakguy]

This is a cool signal indicator let you know how much time is left though though the indicator runs counter clockwise. It can be triggered by a bike too
View attachment 169488

Bellingham has been replacing old style walk signals with countdown signals--though not everywhere yet. Very handy to see the walk signal counting down, so you know whether you have time to make the light. Handy for pedestrians, too.