joejack951

I guess it comes down to what you are used to. Virtually every truly quiet road I’ve ever cycled meets your description. And in my experience, they are great to ride and just as safe as anywhere else.

JonnyV

This is in my neck of the woods and the surrounding area is beautiful for cycling. I ride almost entirely in northern Blair county but I have done plenty of rides in, through, or around State College, it's wonderful.

redcon1

Have you ridden JS? I'm used to quiet roads too, and there are plenty around here-- I've ridden over 31,000 miles of them the past few years since moving to PA (of course, most are chipsealed) .

What I did not clarify above is this route, JS, follows PA RT 216, which is a major E-W artery in southern York County, with lots of truck and automobile traffic heading into and out of Hanover. At one point it follows Sinsheim road, another busy artery for trucks and automobiles, with hills and blind curves. Neither of these roads is what anyone could classify as 'quiet,' or 'safe.' My cycling club has complained PENDOT and they have improved certain sections of the route, but not the ones mentioned.

Unfortunately, PENDOT has added routes due to pressure from cycling groups but not thought out the routing, or improved any infrastructure. If you come over this way, I can recommend many good routes to enjoy the rolling hills and peaceful farmland of south-central PA... but none will include Route JS.

joejack951

We're probably more on the same page than I thought. I have not been on route JS. I have cycled a good bit of L and E and some of S. That the routes could have been routed on quieter roads through certain stretches is something I certainly agree about. There's a part of L that uses a fairly busy section of 322 heading toward Downingtown. Paralleling that stretch, is a very quiet (but quite hillier) stretch of road called Skelp Level Road. Other than the elevation changes on Skelp Level, I'm not sure why they didn't choose it over the main road. But perhaps that's exactly why. I've even used the main road at times when I wasn't feeling like tackling the undulating path of the side road. I also have no idea of the politics involved in signing bike routes along roads that go right past people's homes. I'm guessing that as well as a goal of connecting certain towns by the route with as few miles traveled as possible influenced the chosen roads as much as being an enjoyable cycling experience did.

It could be a fun project to document some recommended alternate roads for the signed bike routes. Local knowledge is always going to offer up the best suggestions versus some committee discussing from afar.