In earlier posts, I’ve lamented the poor conception, design and construction of too many bike lanes in New York, my hometown, and elsewhere.
Sometimes I feel that a bike lane that doesn’t provide a safe, useful route to schools, workplaces or other forms of transportation (like trains or ferries)—or a truly interesting or physically invigorating ride between parks, museums, shopping areas or anything else people might want to visit—is worse than no bike lane.
Such shoddy bicycle infrastructure, I believe, does nothing to encourage people to even consider the bicycle as a healthy, economical, environmentally conscious—-and safe—alternative to driving or other forms of transportation or recreation.
If urban planners and other policy-makers can’t or won’t come up with bike lanes that make sense or other useful infrastructure, I would rather that they provided good bicycle parking, whether curbside or in protected areas. That might do more than anything else to entice people into the saddle.
At least, more and better bike parking would augment other initiatives, such as bike share programs. That is the premise of a report issued by Transportation Alternatives, an organization of which I am a member.
Agree totally, we have some almost useless Bike Lanes here in Colorado Springs, CO. Home of the Olympic Bicycling Team, etc. and like you my wife JoLynn and I take to the street rather than endanger ourselves in these particular Bike Lanes. I'm sure riding in NYC must be quite a feat, we don't like the amount of traffic here, we are growing by leaps and bounds as before Covid-19 we had one of the best economies in the USA. Here our main problem is "Trail connectivity" Trails just END and unless you know all the "back streets", etc. to get to the next one, you'd be totally lost! Have a excellent day! :) BJ and JoLynn Ondo
ReplyDeleteHello B.J. and Jo Lynn! Early in the pandemic, there was little traffic. Cycling in the city was almost bucolic at times. But traffic is returning to pre-pandemic level because while we have new cyclists, we also have new car owners and drivers because people don't want to take trains or buses.
ReplyDeleteSome of my earlier posts show "bike lanes to nowhere" I've encountered.
I have only passed through Colorado Springs, but I remembered that it's the home of the Olympic Bicycling Team. One day, I want to return and ride.