Cheering on New Bike Lanes....
Originally Posted by
BobbyG
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.
I know this doesn't affect most of you, but I thought I'd share my excitement. What a difference!
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.
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.
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.
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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