How's the bike infrastructure where you ride?

[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!

 

[Chargeride]

Got a call off the missus, shes borrowed someone bike?
Gone to the cafe, locked it to a signpost and cant find the key.
I turn up, its only an eight foot pole with a small sign.
Ooh, I can just pick the bike up over it.

So with the cafe watching me, I pull the cable lock out to see if it would fit over.

It wasnt attached to the bike at all, she had just locked it around the post and left the bike out of the whole equation.

So she...blames me because she stressed...and scoots off.

I have to borrow the cafe small steps and get the cable over the post, then I notice the key is in the lock.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Got a call off the missus, shes borrowed someone bike?
Gone to the cafe, locked it to a signpost and cant find the key.
I turn up, its only an eight foot pole with a small sign.
Ooh, I can just pick the bike up over it.

So with the cafe watching me, I pull the cable lock out to see if it would fit over.

It wasnt attached to the bike at all, she had just locked it around the post and left the bike out of the whole equation.

So she...blames me because she stressed...and scoots off.

I have to borrow the cafe small steps and get the cable over the post, then I notice the key is in the lock.

You clearly need to brush up on the one question every would-be groom should have to answer correctly: If a man speaks in the forest with no woman to hear him, is he still wrong? (Careful, you're a man.)

 

[Chargeride]

I was about to reply, but it seems I just broke the washing machine while out in my van.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Got a call off the missus, shes borrowed someone bike?
Gone to the cafe, locked it to a signpost and cant find the key.
I turn up, its only an eight foot pole with a small sign.
Ooh, I can just pick the bike up over it.

So with the cafe watching me, I pull the cable lock out to see if it would fit over.

It wasnt attached to the bike at all, she had just locked it around the post and left the bike out of the whole equation.

So she...blames me because she stressed...and scoots off.

I have to borrow the cafe small steps and get the cable over the post, then I notice the key is in the lock.

You've made it up!

 

[Chargeride]

Nope, all completely true.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Nope, all completely true.

You made my morning!

 

[JoeDirt]

Here in Orange County, and that depends on where you live like perhaps near Irvine, you will find many wide bike Lanes dedicated. As you venture North into the suburbs like Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Westminster, Seal Beach you will find a car Centric environment! With limited trails and usually lots of debris on the roads.

If you want to call the local flood control system bike trails a viable commuting path then I would rate them definitely a 7/10.

But for the most part where I live is purely car Centric and you are taking your life in your hands! Been cycling around here all my life, born in Long Beach California and have seen population growth increase and infrastructure shrink.

But I kind of think that is with every Urban Metropolis that has lots of employment opportunities and masses of people you will see that. When you venture out into the Outback into the less populated cities or towns you will find biking more pleasurable. That's just my two cents

 

[February]

9.9 out of 10 for the Hart- Montague rail trail, in West Michigan. Other than crossings, you are completely seperated from traffic. So safe and beautiful. Nice asphalt paved trails. Other than rail trails which are awesome in Michigan, 0-1 pretty much every where on the road. Hey, Motor capital of the world; or at least we used to be. We're car people here and even I get frustrated with cyclists at times. Some cities are trying to implement bike lanes and new laws about passing distances. The bike lanes aren't safe and most motorists ignore them. I can assure you and my fellow Michiganders will confirm: Auto drivers obey those bike passing rules like cyclists obey stop signs. Michiganders, like many other auto heavy states, abhor cyclists. It especially does not help when the spandex crowd decide to swarm up and ride 15 mph in rush traffic. It's like being on a highway where a bunch of idiot bikers block up the lanes and won't let people pass.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Here in Orange County, and that depends on where you live like perhaps near Irvine, you will find many wide bike Lanes dedicated. As you venture North into the suburbs like Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Westminster, Seal Beach you will find a car Centric environment! With limited trails and usually lots of debris on the roads.

If you want to call the local flood control system bike trails a viable commuting path then I would rate them definitely a 7/10.

But for the most part where I live is purely car Centric and you are taking your life in your hands! Been cycling around here all my life, born in Long Beach California and have seen population growth increase and infrastructure shrink.

Saw what you mean about Huntington Beach as we biked around on rentals several months ago. Big kudos for a fabulous seaside bikeway running for many miles between the water and the adjacent PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). Sometimes an MUP but often with dedicated bike lanes that, miracle of miracles, the many pedestrians generally stayed out of.

But good luck getting to it by bike — at least where we stayed just north of downtown. East of the PCH, surprisingly sparse bike infrastructure for a SoCal beach town. Way below north San Diego County standards.

 

[dodgeman]

I live outside of town but the closest town, about 20,000 people just got a bike grant of $200,000. I figure half of that will go to a study and the other half will go to painting a stripe on the road. They built one multiuser path that you feel every joint in the concrete and then planted a bunch of trees where the branches are at head level for me.