Using your Imagination…
 

On my way to work, I can’t help but wonder what life would be like if the freeways were closed for a week and you could use a bike on them. It would save a lot of time and effort.

I also imagine what it would be like if there were no beg buttons (crosswalk buttons) and all lights were automatically set up so they gave a walk signal without having to find the button and push it. Or maybe they were set for bikes and pedestrians first, and cars came second.

I also want a lane dedicated to bike riders at our local Starbucks. That would be awesome. I guess I could ride in the car drive thru lane, but that’s not quite as fun to imagine.

And I’d like to have a steamroller to flatten and repair some of the bike paths. Roads get resurfaced every so often, but not bike paths.

And then one day, I’ve always wanted to park a utility truck in the middle of the road since they seem oblivious to the fact that parking on bike paths messes up the commute to everyone who uses that path that day.

Anyone else dream of changing things while riding?

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better off putting such dreams of imagination in a pipe.

How about imagining all bicycle paths/roadways for riding were contiguous & well maintained both for service & safety (malicious activity)

Dream? Better to live it.

In Bolivia we have “paro cívico” which is a general strike. No motor vehicle traffic.

Enjoy where you ride.
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Alligator

I was commuting in Colorado Springs for 28 years until recently. In the last 15 years most (if not all) of the under-the pavement induction coils that would let the traffic control system know a car was waiting were switched to optical systems, which meant just riding up to the crosswalk would trigger them...and at some intersections they were so good and quick they would usually give me the green before I had to stop or even slow much. Of course at some intersections nothing seems to work, not even the "beg button".

Also over the last 20 years not only have the MUPS and bike lanes been upgraded and expanded, but there seem to be continuing upgrades and maintenance even when the trails seem fine. I arrived here in 1992 just as the original bike lanes and signs from the bike boom of the '70s were fading from memory as well as literally fading from the streets and signs. Beginning in the early 2000s the bike infrastructure has become better than I could have dreamed.

Even before the bike lane and MUP explosion out here, most roads in town had generous shoulders. Visiting family in Chicagoland and New Jersey it is shocking to see how few roads have accommodations for anything but motor vehicles or even pedestrians.

As far as utility trucks on the MUPS, I've mellowed as I've aged and I rarely get hacked off anymore. Besides...the last three utility trucks I encountered on the MUPs this summer were there to cut the overhanging branches back and trim the weeds and growth 6 feet to sides of the pavement. Each time the crew leader apologized for blocking the path, and then I would thank everyone on the crew for helping make out paths some of the best anywhere.

I can't imagine the bike infrastructure in Colorado Springs getting much better. People's behavior on the MUPS is another thing: aggressive riders of the motorized and non-motorized variety, oblivious riders, pedestrians and pet owners, and transients suffering from mental illness and substance abuse with the detritus of their unfocused existences spilling out onto the MUPS.

But on the whole I imagine that I'm living the bike commuting dream here in Colorado Springs...except that I've been working from home for the last 10 months. I miss my commute, but am learning to enjoy the freedom to make my daily ride to anywhere I choose.

My vision (as long as we're doing this) is that all Starbucks would disappear.

They close a stretch of the Bronx River Parkway from 10-2 many Sundays, and while it has novelty fun it turns out that a wide clear expanse of concrete with zero shade (and in another season zero windbreaks) isn't all that charming a place to ride. And that's a small old example compared to an interstate. What you want is the interstate's routing (and snow plowing) not its actual infrastructure.

I agree in wishing beg buttons were auto detecting systems though.

That's a nice dream. Before the pandemic, Becel Ride for Heart would have a charity event on a Sunday in June. The Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway in Toronto would be closed to motorists for cyclists to ride.

During the pandemic, on selected weekends, the city would close the Lakeshore Boulvard West for cyclists only.

One of my personal dreams is to put up signs at every major intersection that says "Motorists, get out of your car and push". Those would be equivalent to signs on the bike trails telling cyclists to dismount and walk.

Sometime in the 1990s, I was at a charity dinner. As luck would have it, my wife and I shared the table with the Premier of Ontario and another high profile politician. I told them I'd like to have a bicycle commuter highway running from the east end of Scarborough into Mississauga. Of course, that never happened but it's nice to know that awareness of cyclists have come a long way since then.

Dream to the max.

:lol:That was my initial thought.

In 2019 I got to ride on two sections of I-90 in Montana that were closed to motorists in preparation for upcoming bridge work. Normally, every inch of Interstate Highway in the state is bike-legal. Don’t know if I broke the law by going passed the barricades, but there was not much choice. The experience was fun.

In my ideal world there wouldn't be other people (except the ones running Starbucks).

I've never been able to understand the point of them over regular lights that just automatically change every time the traffic light changes. Surely there can't be that big of a savings in electricity to not have the light change... so what is the reason for having them? (And more importantly-- if I forget to push the button but the light would've been on "walk" anyway if I had, would I get a ticket for that?)

the dumb button for "activating" the signal is, 99% of the time, put in location that requires walking on uneven ground then thru some mud & finally to the curb where a vehicle's mirror (bus most likely) has a chance at knocking some sense into you during the process.

The amount of "tech" changes & associated costs that is put out for "improving" traffic conditions & safety should also include putting a separate pole that is much farther away from the roadway while being closer to the walkway for a safer purpose.

And speaking of dumb locations of beg buttons, here is part of my daily commute. I sent this diagram to the city to see if they could move the buttons to where the MUPs actually were located. They still haven’t done anything.


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SIGH... if only those "traffic engineers" actually rode bikes...

Funny thing. I was at a community meeting ounce to see their plans for bike lanes and to meet various government personnel and the engineering firm designing the bike lanes.

At one time, I said to someone, is anybody from the design team going to test ride the entire bike lanes and work out the bugs?

And take Amazon, Walmart, and Facebook with it.

A long time ago, in San Diego, there was a guy that acted as a cycling ambassador for, by the name of Gordy Shields... He often did test rides and voiced his opinion about routes, paths and plans in such a manner as to be the unofficial official.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...l03-story.html
https://ocbike.org/for-you/inspirati...shore-bikeway/

I attended some community meetings with Donna... she was a character in of herself...

Oh, bear in mind that Gordy was working for paths and lanes while John Forester, in the same area, was touting vehicular cycling... "interesting times" indeed.

Out of things you've imagined about, this is one I've wondered frequently. What happened to the time when a walk signal was on for anytime the light was green and a protected turn arrow wasn't also green?

Why do we have to beg by pushing the button when waiting motor traffic on the sensors will be changing the light green anyhow. I've tried to see if any more safety is imparted by not having a walk light lit until needed, but I can't find much meat to grab for the argument.

It mostly affects me when I walk with my wife. And at the major intersection we pass through regularly I can't come up with any reason why not to keep the walk light lit from green to red. It is nice to have it start flashing and doing a countdown when it's about to change. But why can't that countdown be based on when it's about to change to red instead of from 10 seconds after the light turns solid green?

How is that few seconds any safer for me to cross than the other sometimes upwards of 90 seconds not safe when the other lights are not otherwise changing?

I don't like the drivethroughs at the local Dutch Bros. And they've finally opened a walk-up window. Not quite the same as a bike up window, but close enough. I think one in Portland has a dedicated walking lane (which would be fine for bikes).

As far as freeway riding. It is legal here, but not pleasant.

However, I rode to Albany for the Eclipse a couple of years ago. The return ride was a madhouse. I tried to stay on back roads, but I think I would have been better off jumping onto the freeway which was a parking lot for hours. It might have been fun to pass all those cars, but the fumes would have been nasty. :eek: