Maelochs hit the nail on the head (12-18-20 06:19pm post #15) when he mentioned that the New Bicycle Riders from this 2020 Covid-19 PANDEMIC's BICYCLE BOOM do not want to be riding on streets/roads with even moderate automobile traffic. I might be wrong but I believe that this huge bicycle boom population will maintain at least 1/4 of their recreational riding after the Pandemic situation likely resolves in early 2022 if the majority of the population takes the vaccine(s) as it becomes available to them.
What I believe that you will likely see as a long-term byproduct of these "New Bicycle Riders of 2020" is they will likely campaign for vehicle traffic free Areas where people can leisurely ride bicycles without the hassle & risk of riding on trafficked roads/streets. This is going to work against Road cyclists that want Share The Road and first class improvements and enforcement such that road/street conditions significantly improve for "CYCLISTS". What I think you will see over the next decade or fifteen years is a concerted effort to build separate low-speed greenways and bicycle-multi use paths/narrow roads within large municipal parks and ex-railway(former railroad lines) routes. That is where I believe that you will see any allocated local/state/federal funds going to improve cycling in your municipality, assuming that there is enough budget after all other projects that are deemed essential & immediate priorities for the city are funded and underway.
I do think that because of all these "New Bicycle Riders of 2020", you will see the priority status for such "auto traffic free Bicycle/multi use paths-park roads" will rise somewhat from way down on the list of Quality of Life longterm community improvement projects to nearer to the top of the list. As you know, the gears of progress in local goverment and municipal projects often move painfully slow from initial plan to groundbreaking to completion, as funding and changes in members of the county commissioners, and mayor changes over the eight to twenty years it often takes to see fruition of such a Quality of Life improvement in any town. Economic downturns, recessions, natural disasters such as Hurricanes, Floods, Ice Storms, Tornadoes, Earthquakes, Mudslides, Blizzards, Wildfires, often force municipalities to shelve or delay or otherwise re-purpose the allocated budget to something more important until things normalize enough. This could take years. Then there are local politics and "favored pet projects" as well as changing opinion of the majority of the taxpayers on what is deemed essential and what is Fat or "pork" that can be trimmed from this years and or next years budget.............................and so it goes................................ every real property owner or homeowner in any town/city knows that there is a 'LIMIT' on what these the contributing members of the local town/city can and will accept in the way of their property taxes. You can bet that your local county commission meetings will see much more massive public attendance and vocal outraged citizens in the event that the milage rate and their local property taxes rise to levels that most of these contributing members-productive property owning taxpayers that make up the largest portion of that city's tax base, find unacceptable and outrageous. Yet, you often see issues caused by corruption and financial incompetance in local goverment from not only departments but the chief stewards such as city manager, tax commissioner, mayor, county commissioners, department heads who sometimes waste much more and occasionally become criminals too. The city funds could get so depleted that only gets discovered two or three years later when a large scope audit discovers the tip of the iceberg.
The thing to realize here is that a huge number of ordinary humans in your community have taken to Bicycle Riding in 2020 and Creating This Bicycle Boom in the era of Covid-19. This number of people outnumbers the "CYCLISTS" in your community. These ordinary newcomers, these "BICYCLE RIDERS" have no allegiance or ties to the roadie "CYCLISTS" that sport the jersey & padded shorts attire and the specific non BSO machinery. This is not to say that a very small percentage of these newcomer BICYCLE RIDERS will adopt the ways of and join the society of CYCLISTS with their road going manners and colorful attire, and more purpose built upscale machinery. I do believe that the legacy of the mass newcomer BICYCLE RIDERS during this Covid-19 era Bike Boom is gonna have long-term implications for the advancement of Bicycling Without Automobile Traffic, rather than Cycling on trafficked roads/streets. This may hurt the public adoption of 'SHARE THE ROAD' as these new BICYCLE RIDERS seem to prefer segregation and don't seem as sympathetic towards the 'SHARE THE ROAD' philosophy. It is hard to tell for sure since it may just be that the 2020 boom BICYCLE RIDERS are more risk averse that they don't find it safe enough to ride on busy streets/roads and they don't enjoy riding such streets/roads because they deem it too unsafe-dangerous to ride there..................& many of them, possibly most of them, may actually believe that bicycles don't belong on those streets/roads ...(automobile traffic & bicycles shouldn't mix...........................after all these folks are all automobile/pickup/SUV/sportscar/motorhome owners-drivers and just their behavior, the unwillingness to ride on trafficked streets leads one to believe that they do share the philosophy of the majority of automobile/SUV/pickup..etc Drivers on the road today that Cyclists have no business riding on roads............silly adults and nutcases-dumbasses that want to commute slowly on a bike should buy and drive a car, or stop getting DUI convictions and losing their drivers license.......Get Off the f@#%ing road with that stupid bicycle as you're old enough to have a drivers license, you stupid moron, you're holding up traffic, the roads are made for cars....... ----------WE HAVE ALL HEARD THE VOCAL a-HOLES THAT BEEP THE HORN AND GIVE US THE MIDDLE FINGER SALUTE-----------------------------------------------------------------------well my guess is that some if not most of these 2020 Covid-19 boom BICYCLE RIDERS were more in that crowd before getting on a bicycle again in 2020, than of the share the road belief. UNLESS THIS MINDSET CHANGES, YOU WILL CONTINUE TO SEE A CONCERTED PUSH FOR SEGREGATION AND THE ANTI SHARE THE ROAD MENTALLITY WILL CONTINUE, IF NOT GROW. I do think these 2020 boom Bicycle Riders will continue leisurely after the Covid-19 Pandemic resolves sometime in early 2022. Why do I think so? Well, because of the the long extended period of time ( 9months) that these folks so far have continued to ride a bicycle for amusement/recreation/enjoyment/exercise that I do believe some 25% will continue to use their bikes as I think the family outing, low impact exercise and the fact that it is easy enough to do once one gets acclimated to leisurely riding for fun. It is also low cost assuming one obtains a basic bicycle and provides minimal care for it. Lets face certain facts and that is typical American couch potatoes don't like exercise or maintaining an acceptable waist line, but now that many have had fun and joy on bikes during 2020 because of a lack of other entertainment choices, etc, that some will continue because it is easy enough and low impact and above all, it can be fun, and if you do ride leisurely regularly, it will probably beneficial in improving your health immediately if you're a couch potato. One does not have to ride fast or ride very far to benefit from bicycle riding. One does not need a fancy bike as any old or inexpensive new Walmart bike will do. One just needs to ride some often enough to benefit. One does not need to be a bikeforums member riding a "proper" bicycle from a LBS.................., there are many Walmartians riding many happy miles in 2020 on their new under-rated, better than you'd think BSO specials. These are the folks that have comprised the majority of the 2020 Bicycle Boom BICYCLE RIDERS. This is good as more folks enjoying riding bicycles is always great. Like the Sly sang, ...different strokes for different folks........