Synchronously today, Terry Preston (WALKSacramento) and SABA (Jim Brown) posted to Facebook with a link to an article “Is it time to start dismantling downtown freeways?” I encourage you to follow and join in those discussions: Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates and Terry Preston. I am glad to see this being discussed. I posted on this blog about the same topic, “and the freeways” back in March.
Just before posting “doubting protected bikeways” yesterday, I’d been reading Momentum Magazine, one of my favorites. After posting, I turned the page, and there was a 14 page article entitled “The Rise of the North American Protected Bike Lane” by Angie Schmitt (not yet posted to their website, so you’ll have to read the paper or digital copy). The article is a classic defense of protected bikeways, with the standard criticism of vehicular cycling.
The heart of the article is the “by the numbers” graphic which shows the increase in bicycling in seven different cities that occurred after installation of protected lanes. The increases are impressive. The text talks about Portland research on types of bicyclists, positing that such facilities are necessary to get the “interested and concerned” 60% onto bicycles. Though safety is mentioned several times, it is clear the greatest benefit proposed is an increase in bicycling mode share. I’m not in disagreement with any of this. What I am in disagreement with is the focus on increasing bicycle share as the most important goal of changes we make to our streets.
Bicycling mode share in the U.S. ranges from below 1% in some places to as high as 6% in a few cities. Andy Clarke of The League of American Bicyclists is quoted as saying we could increase this to 10% or even 15% with the use of protected facilities. Sounds great. The problem is that it leaves a whole lot of motor vehicles on the road, making our cities unlivable and threatening the lives of pedestrians.
Protected bikeways, also called separated bike lanes or cycle tracks, are all the rage these days. The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide codified cycle tracks, but they were already showing up in several cities, and are now being implementing in a great number more. I’ve ridden on cycle tracks in Long Beach, San Francisco (just yesterday, in fact) and other cities, and yes, they are a pleasure to ride on compared to riding in traffic or traditional bike lanes. Many people have declared the era of vehicular cycling dead, and the era of protected bikeways upon us.
So why am I doubting?
I spend much of my summer in the mountains, backpacking, so this blog will be pretty inactive until August. I may have a chance to catch up on some topics, but may not.
One of the interesting effects I notice going back and forth between backpacking and hiking in the mountains, and bicycling in town, is that it uses different muscle groups! Though each keeps me in pretty decent overall condition, I do get sore and adjusting muscles going back and forth.
When I go backpacking, I generally take Amtrak (train and/or bus) to Truckee, and then get closer to where I’m going on TART and BlueGo. The west shore shuttle, called the Emerald Bay Trolley this year, takes me close to several trailheads, and also makes connections from the south shore to the north shore. Most of my trips are in the Granite Chief Wilderness, which is off the northwest side of Lake Tahoe, the Desolation Wilderness off the southwest side, the Mokelumne Wilderness south of the Tahoe basin, and of course the Tahoe Rim Trail. To some degree, all of these locations are accessible by public transportation.
On a day in between backpack trips, yesterday, I went to San Francisco for Sunday Streets. This event was in Golden Gate Park and along The Great Highway. It is fun to bicycle along streets and roads closed to motor vehicles, but these long routes don’t have the connections to local businesses and local people that other locales such as The Mission have, and so for me, are a bit less fun. The next Sunday Streets event on Sunday, July 28, is The Mission, which is along Valencia and 24th Streets in the Mission district. Go!
Carnage
Other
Carnage
Development, infill and otherwise
Other
Continued from Part 3
The personal upshot…
I have decided that stop signs that are installed solely to slow traffic do not apply to me. I’m already going less than the speed limit, about 15 mph, and I don’t need to be slowed down, so the purpose of the stop sign does not apply. Instead, the correct behavior is to slow, look, and proceed when it is safe. I will follow the standard yielding rules, as they apply. This behavior is codified in the “Idaho stop law” (Idaho Statutes | Streetsblog). Though I know it is against the law in California, it is the rational and safe behavior.
I am much less sure about safe bicyclist behavior at red lights. The Idaho stop law allows bicyclist to proceed after they have stopped and there is no conflicting traffic. I’m still thinking about this one.
Continued from Part 2 (note: I posted this part 3 early, and then had to delete it, my apologies)
As part of my job, I spend a lot of time at intersections observing the behavior of motor vehicle drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians. What I observe is that about 20% of motor vehicle drivers come to a full legal stop at stop signs, when there are no other vehicles present that might cause a collision. What about bicyclists? Wait for it… About 20% of bicyclists come to a full legal stop at stop signs. Yet the perception of many motor vehicle drivers is that they are stopping and bicyclists are not. Motor vehicles drivers complain in letters to the editor, news shows, blog comments, and conversations about flagrant violations of the law by bicyclists, which they either say or imply should result in harsh enforcement, restrictions on where bicyclists may ride, and “licensing.” A few crazies even say that it is OK to run down a bicyclist who is violating the law. But the fact of the matter is that bicyclist and motor vehicle driver behaviors are nearly identical when it comes to stop signs.
Carnage
Development, infill and otherwise
Miscellaneous
