Worse Bike Lane EVER!!!

[Rocketmantn]

Check this out!!!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/how-stupid-is-your-bike-lane/index.html?hp

[A.D.]

ha, ha, THIS one (below) is my Favorite!

Of course a close runner-up would be Hwy 68 from the intersection with Hwy 58 over to Watts Bar Dam. It's clearly marked as a
Bicycle Route
and after fresh new pavement last year (or was it the year before?) they came back with the bulldozer treads IN the bicycle lane. :hissyfit9:

Now I would presume that is due to all the drivers that tend to fall asleep at the wheel and then run out of the road and crash into the ditch, or worse yet a tree perhaps. :o_O9:

But that assumption fails as soon as I realize I've driven that stretch of highway for some 27 years and have NEVER seen (or heard of) anyone falling asleep. Therefore, I just have to rack it up to the stupidity of our Public Works folks instead. :wink9:

[Serenity]

That looks like the lane for someone who rides unicycles.

[Mtwnrocket]

Actually (nearly) experienced a bad one this week.

There is a nice 6 mile bikes-only trail that follows an inlet about 3 miles west of Tybee Island near Savannah, GA. Hwy 80 west is an easy pedal out that way cuz there is a bike lane. So I left MJ and the car at the beach and pedaled west yesterday.

But about 2 miles out, the bike lane suddenly disappears as the 4 lane road becomes a long two-lane concave bridge across another inlet (see the attached pic). 50 feet above the swamp/water/gators/boats/etc. No shoulders, crazy-stupid vacationing funneled traffic, and the only thing between me and the water is that 24 inch railing? Not in my lifetime!

There are places even I won't ride, and this is one of them. So I took a side "road" down to the inlet under the bridge (private property, but who's looking?), looked around and ride back to the Tybee Lighthouse.

Dave

[Rocketmantn]

Here is a rebuttal by our very own Kelley Segars.. :goodpoint:


The back story, which the videographer didn't bother to get because he was too focused on being funny, is that this block was being resurfaced and those stupid planners you talk about took advantage of the opportunity to get bike lanes added to it. You have to do that during resurfacing, or it is not going to happen. Resurfacing only happens once every 10 - 20 years. Since that block was done, four more blocks of bike lanes have been added. We have to take what we can get as the opportunities come along.

As for bike lanes next to on-street parking, they work as long as they are wide enough. (Do not base your judgments on our Magnolia example because they weren't done correctly--neither the bike lane nor the parking lane is wide enough.) In the video example, it appears the parking lane is wide enough because you will notice many of the cars are are a foot or more from the edge of the bike lane. I can't tell how wide the bike lane is, but it seems to be adequate. Another foot might be preferable, but if the bicyclist rides in the center or a little to the left of center, he/she should be out of the door zone.

Sincerely,
one of those stupid planners




Kelley Segars, AICP
Senior Transportation Planner
Knoxville Regional TPO
400 Main St, Suite 403
Knoxville, TN 37902
PH 865/215-3815
FX 865/215-2068

[Rocketmantn]

Dave,

In that second picture that is some tall bicycle light you have on your Rocket!!! :rolf2:

[Mtwnrocket]

Dave,

In that second picture that is some tall bicycle light you have on your Rocket!!!

Rule #1 of Road Riding: Be seen by drivers.

I can now be seen from 18 miles away, but carrying the battery is a real pain!

Dave

[FeetFirstFella]

Well, speakin' of bike lanes, here's an oldie but goodie from the golden days of yore, courtesy of our own AD Wade....

Don
'03 V-Rex
'06 Formula 26
'03 Vivo
'51 Engine...

[LeakyDuck]

Well, speakin' of bike lanes, here's an oldie but goodie from the golden days of yore, courtesy of our own AD Wade....


Are you telling me that all those lanes are for bikes and just one lane for cars? Where is this piece of Paradise located?

[A.D.]

ha, ha, Well actually those would be some of the BEST Bike Lanes ever the way I see it. Since, to my knowledge, that's not happened yet I can only assume it's in our future?! :rofl9: