How's the bike infrastructure where you ride?

[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.

 

[BEC111]

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.

Northern Virginia is really good for biking. I’m in Ashburn and am less than a mile from the W&OD which riding 25 miles or so southeast indirectly connects to the Mt Vernon trail. a very cycling friendly region. And the local govs are working to improve it.

 

[6zfshdb]

Northern Virginia is really good for biking. I’m in Ashburn and am less than a mile from the W&OD which riding 25 miles or so southeast indirectly connects to the Mt Vernon trail. a very cycling friendly region. And the local govs are working to improve it.

Are e-bikes allowed on the Mt Vernon trail now? I tried to ride there 2 years ago and was asked to leave by the park police.

 

[BEC111]

Are e-bikes allowed on the Mt Vernon trail now? I tried to ride there 2 years ago and was asked to leave by the park police.

 

[BEC111]

I not aware of any regulatory issues but I’ve ridden the trail both alone and with the E-Bike Lovers of Washington DC group several times in the past few years without incident

 

[Art Deco]

This article seems like it fits in with your infrastructure thread. This is serous stuff, both the good and the bad builds are permanently installed and rarely changed afterwards.

Toronto has too many Ghost Bikes

The construction industry kills another cyclist and I attend another ride and installation.

open.substack.com

 

[Kayakguy]

Bellingham recently closed one (of three) lanes on Holly St. (main drag) to put in a dedicated bike lane, which is separated from traffic by auto parking. Only hazard I can see is a passenger opening up their (right side) door at an awkward time. So we still have to stay alert. Also, street revisions are happening in my neighborhood that are supposed to improve biking safety. Remains to be seen. Not all "improvements" actually improve anything.

A few intersections have the green "bike box" that allows you to jump ahead of autos, but sometimes I feel awkward about shoving ahead of a car to occupy that space. Last time I encountered one of those, a car had already stopped well into a portion of the bike box, and I debated challenging them about it, but thought better of it.

 

[S.Sage]

I live in central Alabama. Jacksonville is a University town, so there are some bicycle friendly areas locally. But, we don't have a local bike shop anymore, go figure.

I live near the Chief Ladiga rail trail and it connects with the Silver Comet trail in Georgia. Lots of rural roads to ride here. I can ride over to the rail trail north of Jacksonville, AL and take it over to the Cedar Town, GA area for a 60 mile round trip. Its mostly scenic woods, a few mild but long grades. The rail trail has shade and there are some campgrounds and motels that are bicycle forward. A number of trail systems in the area along rivers and we have the Tallagega National Forest near and a few State Parks with bike trails. So, plenty of places to ride, but most require a vehicle ride to a trail head.

I like the Little River Canyon area for low traffic pavement riding and all the forestry roads are nice if you like gravel roads. I use the rail trails to avoid the usual hostile truck traffic, too many reckless drivers for my liking. I stay to the bike trails most of the time. I wish the local roads were safer so I could just ride a bicycle from home, but I don't do that often. Lots of people drive down the middle of the roads here, even around blind curves. So I would say my area of Alabama is a 5 at best. But we do have good single track mountain bike trails here, just not much support you can ride up to. Bring lots of water though, its really hot and humid here!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I don't ride in Paris, but the infrastructure there seems to be improving at a rapid rate. Some main arteries were also given over to bikes for the Olympics.

Not sure how effective these new bike lanes will be in practice. On my last visit to Paris in 2019, cars and trucks typically went down the big boulevards in swarms, totally ignoring lane markings. Driving on sidewalks was apparently fair game. And a lot of the driving was done with one hand on the horn and the other shaking a fist out the driver's window.

And these drivers are going to honor bike lanes??

 

[Art Deco]

For your infrastructure thread, from the Washington Post...

"an essential truth about bike lanes as weapons of civic planning: They are often installed not to satisfy the barely measurable trickle of residents who pedal to work but mainly to make car traffic worse enough that people will be discouraged from driving ..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/20/bicycle-lanes-dc-traffic/

I disagree, of course, but it is certainly possible.

 

[mschwett]

For your infrastructure thread, from the Washington Post...

"an essential truth about bike lanes as weapons of civic planning: They are often installed not to satisfy the barely measurable trickle of residents who pedal to work but mainly to make car traffic worse enough that people will be discouraged from driving ..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/20/bicycle-lanes-dc-traffic/

I disagree, of course, but it is certainly possible.

there was a bit of discussion about that article on another cycling forum. with mostly recreational/sport riders who still drive everywhere else, i suppose i shouldn’t have been surprised how many agreed with that premise.

i do not think it’s true - or at least almost never true - but it is true that some cycling infrastructure does not have good returns in terms of use or safety.

 

[Chargeride]

Pretty good, some of our routes are longer than the bike....but not this one.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

For your infrastructure thread, from the Washington Post...

"an essential truth about bike lanes as weapons of civic planning: They are often installed not to satisfy the barely measurable trickle of residents who pedal to work but mainly to make car traffic worse enough that people will be discouraged from driving ..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/20/bicycle-lanes-dc-traffic/

I disagree, of course, but it is certainly possible.

Another concept is the bike infrastructure is not to make the life any better for cyclists but to remove bikes off the roads to make the drivers' life comfortable.

 

[AvalancheRun]

Another concept is the bike infrastructure is not to make the life any better for cyclists but to remove bikes off the roads to make the drivers' life comfortable.

Increasingly it's used to slow cars down by reducing the size of the road (vehicle) lanes. With that in mind, planners have little incentive to design bicycle lanes in terms of a safe and cohesive system. Just as with your point.

 

[Chargeride]

Theres no safe place to park your bike, if you go the shops its going to get pinched and the police will just shrug and say its your fault for going the shops on it.
All council cycle infrastructure is done through gritted teeth, they wouldnt build a single one if it wasnt funded by lobbying pressure or tick boxing quotas.

Cyclists are a pain in the ass to drivers and Im still guilty myself of getting frustrated with 10mph up a three mile windy incline stuck behind a pack of them.
TBH an electric car with four people in it is actually less carbon than four cyclists at point of use if its net zero charged.
Food for humans has a huge co2 footprint.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Increasingly it's used to slow cars down by reducing the size of the road (vehicle) lanes. With that in mind, planners have little incentive to design bicycle lanes in terms of a safe and cohesive system. Just as with your point.

This really depends on where you live. In my greater neighborhood including Warsaw bike infrastructure in most of cases does not make the roads any narrower. Fancy a former sidewalk converted to a bike path - it is how it often works where I live.

I might take some pictures on one of my rides to illustrate the point.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

This really depends on where you live. In my greater neighborhood including Warsaw bike infrastructure in most of cases does not make the roads any narrower. Fancy a former sidewalk converted to a bike path - it is how it often works where I live.

I might take some pictures on one of my rides to illustrate the point.

Then where do the pedestrians, delivery people, and other sidewalk users go? A bike lane with frequent pedestrian traffic isn't much of a bike lane.

See a lot of that where I live. In my experience, the interlopers seldom move over to let a cyclist through. Often, they're totally oblivious to the cyclist's approach.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Then where do the pedestrians, delivery people, and other sidewalk users go? A bike lane with frequent pedestrian traffic isn't much of a bike lane.

There are too many situations and layout types to describe it. Some examples:

• A system of 40 km of bike paths along a heavy traffic highway. There is a mix of mixed use paths made from perfect asphalt to old dilapidated paving blocks crossed by tree roots. You need to very often cross a zebra/bike crossing from one side of the road to another. There are some pedestrians but it is no issue to pass them by even on a narrow path if you dramatically slow down.
• Wide Warsaw arteries that are sided with separate bike paths and sidewalks. (Bear in mind Warsaw was destroyed during WW2, which still leaves a lot of space).
• At the same time, many major Warsaw streets have no bike paths or bike lanes. What do the food couriers do there? They ride on the sidewalk...
• A system of bike paths made of paving blocks (it is a disaster) where there are hardly any pedestrians. The MUP goes from one side of the road to another. Where it reaches narrow streets of a town, no bike path or lanes there.

Whatever the type of bike/pedestrian infrastructure is, the roads have nowhere been made any narrower for cars here.

I think making streets narrower to allow bicycles is only happening in old cities in some countries or world regions but not here. Therefore, "making the bike infrastructure to move bicycles off the streets" was certainly a generalization from my side.

P.S. While a pedestrian has a full priority on a zebra in Poland, the cyclist has no priority on the bike crossing! Stop, watch both ways or die.

 

[gromike]

We had a section of road rebuilt. They put in a two lane road, a bicycle lane, and a side walk. I think it's great, but the cagers hate it, even though their lanes are each 11 feet wide!