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Cheering on New Bike Lanes...
I'm in colorado springs.
A few months ago I discovered a trail had been paved and upgraded which allowed me to combine a route to my daughter's with an old portion of a current route. My "new" route had some old problems; a busy double-lane road with no shoulders, and old fashioned high-curb sidewalks with no cut-outs at the intersection, which is inexcusable in 2019. Well, just to inject some variety into my ride home I took this new route for the first time in 6 weeks. First, an out-of-the-way section of a Backstreet had been paved oh, and bike Lanes had been painted. I heard myself exclaim, "Yes!" Then, along the mile or so with the narrow, shoulderless Road, and high curbs, I found handicap accessible cutouts at all the intersections. So I was able to take the sidewalk! And finally, along another half mile with no room for bikes on the roadway, the outer Lane has been repainted as a bike lane. I actually let out a whoop and hollar!...and I'm not that kind of guy. What a difference! I know this doesn't affect most of you, but I thought I'd share my excitement. |
Do you use this site? https://coloradosprings.gov/bikes/page/city-bike-maps
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Originally Posted by BobbyG
(Post 21141358)
I'm in colorado springs.
A few months ago I discovered a trail had been paved and upgraded which allowed me to combine a route to my daughter's with an old portion of a current route. My "new" route had some old problems; a busy double-lane road with no shoulders, and old fashioned high-curb sidewalks with no cut-outs at the intersection, which is inexcusable in 2019. Well, just to inject some variety into my ride home I took this new route for the first time in 6 weeks. First, an out-of-the-way section of a Backstreet had been paved oh, and bike Lanes had been painted. I heard myself exclaim, "Yes!" Then, along the mile or so with the narrow, shoulderless Road, and high curbs, I found handicap accessible cutouts at all the intersections. So I was able to take the sidewalk! And finally, along another half mile with no room for bikes on the roadway, the outer Lane has been repainted as a bike lane. I actually let out a whoop and hollar!...and I'm not that kind of guy. What a difference! I know this doesn't affect most of you, but I thought I'd share my excitement. |
Originally Posted by KraneXL
(Post 21141743)
And yet no photo/video was seen that day?
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Originally Posted by alloo
(Post 21141670)
Do you use this site? https://coloradosprings.gov/bikes/page/city-bike-maps
Took a quick look, neither lanes show up yet. South Janitell, south of Circle and Chelton between Fountain and Airport. But still a good resource. I've been in the Springs for 27 years and the amount of bike infrastructure has just exploded in the last five! |
Cheering on New Bike Lanes....
Originally Posted by BobbyG
(Post 21141358)
I'm in colorado springs.
A few months ago I discovered a trail had been paved and upgraded which allowed me to combine a route to my daughter's with an old portion of a current route. My "new" route had some old problems; a busy double-lane road with no shoulders, and old fashioned high-curb sidewalks with no cut-outs at the intersection, which is inexcusable in 2019. Well, just to inject some variety into my ride home I took this new route for the first time in 6 weeks. First, an out-of-the-way section of a Backstreet had been paved oh, and bike Lanes had been painted. I heard myself exclaim, "Yes!" Then, along the mile or so with the narrow, shoulderless Road, and high curbs, I found handicap accessible cutouts at all the intersections. So I was able to take the sidewalk! And finally, along another half mile with no room for bikes on the roadway, the outer Lane has been repainted as a bike lane. I actually let out a whoop and hollar!...and I'm not that kind of guy. What a difference! I know this doesn't affect most of you, but I thought I'd share my excitement. There is a current thread on the A&S forum, “I almost got doored - yet most drivers blame me. How do we improve car culture?,” with a big brouhaha about riding along parked cars… do or don’t; be watchful, or install new technology in cars. I was mindful of that thread when two days ago I rode my bike from downtown Boston South Station (Railroad), about five miles out to the Brighton neighborhood. The first quarter mile is through a dense commercial maze with heavy auto and pedestrian traffic, then less than a quarter mile on car-free Boston Common. Next was about a mile on one-way Beacon Street with parked cars on both sides. That used to be a hazardous ride IMO until a while back this bike lane was installed, safe from traffic, but still beset with more predictable hazards of intersections, pedestrians, salmoning cyclists, but with a buffer zone from opening passenger side doors. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...22a49b381e.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ac93cba4a9.jpg Then a short segment through Kenmore Square to Commonwealth Avenue (“Comm Ave”), with a prominent presence of Boston University with a heavy cycling population, as well as a commercial thoroughfare. It is in the vicinity of a few cycling fatalities in the recent years. Much to my delight I found this new, beautiful separate bike lane with a similar one on the opposite side. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d36c117a19.jpg The last mile of my trip was on a typical bike lane I thought was wide enough to comfortably accommodate riding on the left side to avoid sudden door openings. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...593796f35f.jpg Later on my return trip, cycling traffic was heavier, and the faster cyclists did use the auto travel lane, but traffic is calmed by fairly closely spaced traffic signals. ˅˅˅˅ |
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Earlier this year,
Originally Posted by Jim from Boston
(Post 20828374)
Just this morning (3/8/19) on the 6-7 AM segment of the Jeff Kuhner talk show on WRKO, he discussed proposals by mayor Marty Walsh to decrease the speed limit in Boston to 20 mph, and increase the number of bus and bike lanes.
He was vehemently against it, as were many of the callers, with snide comments about cyclists. I called in as Jim from Boston…and introduced myself as his Number One Fan among Boston Cyclists. I made two points: bicycles are entitled to be on the road, and the more cyclists, the fewer other cars, and the more parking spaces available. Jeff was pretty gracious, but I (accidentally) got cut off. Afterwards, he made some reasonable remarks… I sent a rebuttal text to the station, FWIW: Before I got cut off I was going to make my third point that cyclists are ultimately responsible for their own safety, and I agree with your subsequent comments about cycle-auto collisions. In the “cycling community” there are two schools of thought about riding in traffic: As Far Right as Possible: close to the curb; or Take the Lane to be out there and visible to cars. Bike lanes encourage the former behavior, likely more tolerated by motorists. Bike lanes are not that wide, but then cyclist is in the “door zone” in danger of opening doors from parked cars. |
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