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Driving Old Bike Routes Helped Me Avoid Jam...

I drove North a few miles to an after work meeting this afternoon. Google Maps showed an accident and traffic jam on the highway. Whenever that happens the two next alternate surface streets it suggests also jam.

Then I remembered some residential and access streets I used to ride before Colorado Springs added its newer MUPs. Sure enough, it was clear sailing. And while the speed limits varied from 30 to 40mph, I beat the estimated Google Maps time. I even had periodic views of the slower highway traffic inching along. Not only that, there was the nostalgia factor of the old routes.

I do like those quiet residential streets. They are pretty much my goto for commuting.

The other day I had something similar happen where I got off the main road and on to some old bike routes. Better than sitting in traffic!

I'd rather be making good time going the wrong way than sitting in traffic ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomadmax (Post 21073611)

I'd rather be making good time going the wrong way than sitting in traffic ;)

This.

Words to live by, right here.

I read once that urban police are trained, if they're trying to get to an emergency scene, and they run up against an intersection with traffic they can't get through, just turn. Turn first and figure out how to get back on track later. Just keep moving.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RubeRad (Post 21073994)

I did 26 years at a large police department in Ohio and taught at the academy, local and state; I've never heard that before reading it here. Knowing your beat/city on a detailed basis is hammered into the recruits from day one so it's kinda the same thing I guess. We do have areas in the city called "Defensible Space", basically neighborhoods with only one or two ways in or out by car, the rest of the streets are blocked by large iron gates to limit access (in and out) to those who might want to do crimes there. The bicycle patrol was king in those areas.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobbyG (Post 21072468)

Quote:

Originally Posted by no motor? (Post 21073588)

The other day I had something similar happen where I got off the main road and on to some old bike routes. Better than sitting in traffic!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 15389809)

When I was growing up in Detroit, around grades 6 to 8, my good friend and I used to also like to go out on our bikes and “get lost,” as well as our intentional rides throughout the neighborhood.

Detroit though, is laid out on a rectangular grid system, so we were never really that lost, compared to riding in Boston.

One benefit of cycling around Boston and knowing the back roads, is that occasionally when driving on a freeway if I encounter a traffic jam, I know how to get off and bypass the jam on the local surface roads, while the unaware drivers sit it out

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 17796668)

This weekend, Friday PM through Monday PM I did a 1600 mile round trip drive to North Carolina. (I took my bike, but time and family activities precluded riding.)…

While in Connecticut [on the way back to Boston], I heard about the bus explosion on the eastbound Mass Pike in Newton that shut it down with a miles-long back up in my direction, that I would soon encounter.

A favorite training ride segment is to ride from Hopkinton [starting line for the Boston Marathon] to Norwood through some beautiful back roads with little traffic. So I got off the Mass Pike at I-495, well before the traffic jam, and off at Hopkinton and followed my route.

I went through Hopkinton to Holliston … through Sherborn to Dover, but rather continued on to Millis and then backtracked via Rte 109 to Norwood.

Though only traveling 30-40 mph, at least I was continuously moving, with only rare traffic lights, it was so backroad. I was a bit chagrinned to “despoil” the route by car, but I do get a different perspective with my head up, above road-view.

When I arrived at Norwood, my colleague had not even heard about the bus explosion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chas58 (Post 21073294)

I do like those quiet residential streets. They are pretty much my goto for commuting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomadmax (Post 21073611)

I'd rather be making good time going the wrong way than sitting in traffic ;)

PS to @chas58: I note you post from Michigan. I grew up on the East Side of Detroit, and I remember wide, long, straight residential streets in the City Proper, safe to ride on.

@BobbyG, you check google maps before you head out? I do that in the car but not the bike. Traffic generally doesn't affect my bike travel times.

Quote:

Originally Posted by noglider (Post 21077586)

@BobbyG, you check google maps before you head out? I do that in the car but not the bike. Traffic generally doesn't affect my bike travel times.

No, I don't check Google traffic for traffic when I bike. I was driving when Google alerted me to delays. I took old bike routes to avoid them.

I do use Google maps to plan bike routes to unfamiliar destinations in so far as checking infrastructure for bike lanes, shouldets, etc, but not for traffic conditions and jams.

Usually when I drive I take the same routes for that reason. Hardly any traffic and more peaceful.