I have no problem with bicycle lanes as long as they are appropriate. Part of what that means is they must not put bicyclists in danger and they should make life on the road easier for everyone.
As if turns out in Springfield, there’s not much need that I can see for lanes over much of the downtown area. Most of our roads in that area are either wide enough to share comfortably (i.e. no need for a lane) or are narrow enough that there’ no room for a lane.
The following pictures from Walnut illustrate the this.
This is Walnut facing west about a block west of the 4-way stop at Hammons. This is a wide street with a 30 mph speed limit. I ride this way almost everyday to go downtown. The line I’ve drawn shows my approximate usual lane position — about 4 feet from the curb. The road is wide enough that cars can comfortably pass without having to encroach on the opposite lane. Painting a lane on this road is simply unnecessary. This section of Walnut is very comfortable to ride, yet I sometimes see bicyclists riding on the sidewalks here. A lane might encourage more people to get off the sidewalk, but I don’t think that’s a good way to spend money. Then you also have to deal with what to do about the lane at the light at Kimbrough. Better to just let bicyclists figure it out.
This picture is Walnut downtown, also facing west. You may remember the intersection ahead from this video I posted awhile back. The speed limit here is 20 mph and the road is not wide enough to share. The best choice — the only choice — is to take the lane. I’ve drawn a crude sharrow where a real one might one day be placed. The purpose of the sharrow is to alert all road users that bicyclists can and should take the lane. Again, this is a comfortable road to ride on, yet I see far too many bicyclists riding on the sidewalk here. It happens to be illegal, but your chances of actually getting ticketed are slim.
If we’re going to spend money on paint — and it does look as if that might happen — then I think the best thing to do first is add sharrows to narrow sections of the bicycle route system — especially downtown now that the number of bicyclists traveling there is increasing.
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I think the sharrows are a good encouragement solution.
What a lot of people don’t realize about converting wide lanes is that placing a stripe to create a bike lane makes that space less usable… and more expensive to maintain.
I’ve heard the theory that bike lanes get cyclists off the sidewalk, but I’m doubtful that many cyclists who choose the sidewalk over a wide lane will be compelled to ride in a bike lane. I see cyclists on the sidewalk next to bike lanes all the time.
I think the only thing that gets cyclists off the sidewalk is a recognition that riding on the sidewalk is what’s causing all their scary moments.
Posted 04 Aug 2009 at 12:25 pm ¶I agree. I have been disappointed with many of the bike lanes in Columbia. Many of the new bike lanes in Columbia were not necessary and I think have made some streets harder to bike on. It also makes many motorists believe we can only be in the bike lane and as you know there are many instances when riding in the bike lane is very dangerous.
Posted 04 Aug 2009 at 3:18 pm ¶Just make sure sharrows aren’t hugging the door zone as many I’ve seen in Seattle. Photo of one on the linked URL.
Posted 04 Aug 2009 at 5:08 pm ¶Why is your clock an hour slow?
Posted 04 Aug 2009 at 5:58 pm ¶Seattle has been ridiculed for some of the worst examples of sharrow placement. Here’s a real head-scratcher:
Posted 04 Aug 2009 at 6:03 pm ¶http://gallery.mac.com/bicycle_driver#100021
Yep. I’m going to be watching closely if/when the paint hits the pavement.
Steve… I’ll check the time setting.
Posted 04 Aug 2009 at 10:33 pm ¶Hmm, as a recent newbie utility cyclist, I can say for sure that marked bike routes (mostly sharrows here in St. Louis) were a big encouragement to getting me on my bike. It took a while for me to gain confidence and feel comfortable finding my own routes. So I tend to have warm fuzzy feelings about bike lanes in general (except, yes, when they try to funnel me into a dangerous situation). A bike lane that seems unnecessary to a seasoned rider may be quite necessary indeed if bike ridership is to grow.
Posted 05 Aug 2009 at 7:24 am ¶Joyce… Would you feel comfortable riding along that first section of Walnut w/o a painted lane?
Posted 05 Aug 2009 at 10:10 am ¶To build on Andy’s question… if a road had a wide lane and a bike route sign (a useful one with a route number that corresponded to a wayfinding system) would that appeal to you as a new rider?
If we could combine the comfort provided by added width with a form of encouragement that didn’t restrict lane position, mislead novices or gather debris, it seems like that would be appealing to everyone.
Posted 05 Aug 2009 at 10:30 am ¶Keri… As it so happens, Walnut is part of the Springfield Bicycle Route system. We have green signs. But they do not have route numbers.
Posted 05 Aug 2009 at 6:51 pm ¶I think that there may actually be a benefit to adding a cycle lane to the road shown in the first photo – wide roads encourage drivers to go faster. Adding cycle lanes would have the effect of narrowing the apparent road width, making drivers more aware of their speed. This could be further enhanced by removing the central dotted line, which would cause uncertainty in the relative priorities of oncomming vehicles.
Cycle lanes can do a whole lot more than say “this is space reserved for bikes”!
Posted 06 Aug 2009 at 7:10 am ¶Andy– I would be comfortable riding the street in the top picture now. 18 months ago it likely wouldn’t have occurred to me to try.
Keri– Sharrows and route signs (plus a map) are what I am most used to, and maybe sharrows are generally better than striped lanes because they provide less of a visual restriction on where on the road bikes should be, and perhaps don’t gather debris so much either. Keep in mind that new cyclists (at least us dense ones!) may not immediately grasp sharrows– there’s a sharrowed route one block from our house, and it took me months to learn that those bike-y arrows stencilled on the road weren’t just some new form of graffiti. I think (I hope!) I would have recognized what to do with a striped bike lane sooner. Maybe this just means that a bit more promotion may be needed when introducing sharrows to an area unfamiliar with them.
Posted 06 Aug 2009 at 7:31 am ¶Karl,
The belief that bike lanes visually narrow the lane and slow drivers is based on junk science research which has been disproved. Most bike facility “research” that has been done has used poor methodology with the results manipulated to justify the desired conclusion of the consultant’s client (a DOT that want to keep cyclists out of the way).
Fortunately, one researcher (who believed he would prove that bike lanes slowed traffic) had the integrity to use proper methodology and disproved his own desired hypothesis.
The truth should be self-evident (when we get over the mythologies which obscure rational thought): placing cyclists on the other side of a line allows motorists to disregard them and pass closer and faster because there is no need for caution or consideration. This is a factor in why cyclists get hit from behind in bike lanes and shoulders. Inattentive drivers unconsciously edit out their presence because the dividing line makes them “no factor” to the multi-tasker’s brain.
Here’s another good report from the UK:
Effect of Cycle Lanes on Cyclists’ Road Space.
Joyce,
Would it have occurred to you to try using a wide lane if there were other influences in the culture which encourage cycling on the roads?
Here’s the thing about using bike lanes for “encouragement”: What that does is address lack of knowledge about safe cycling by placing a permanent, restrictive and sometimes-misleading marking on the road. Lack of knowledge should be an impermanent condition, so the appropriate way to address it is with public awareness, social marketing and education. Those methods, in the long-run, are far less expensive and cover all the miles of roadway. That those methods have been nearly non-existent, and far overshadowed by calls for an inferior solution, IS the reason beginners think they need bike lanes.
Now, if we combine public awareness with properly-placed sharrows and quality wayfinding systems, we have the best of all worlds. We can encourage ridership responsibly and do no harm. Punishing the competent to coddle the uninformed is fundamentally unfair to both!
Posted 06 Aug 2009 at 9:42 am ¶