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That hasn't been my experience at all (living in the DC suburbs). Local example: I live in Reston VA. We've slowly been adding bike lanes to existing roads as

That hasn't been my experience at all (living in the DC suburbs). Local example: I live in Reston VA. We've slowly been adding bike lanes to existing roads as other improvements are made. In some cases, this required cutting from 2 lanes to 1 lane. However, in all cases, traffic timings and accident analysis was undertaken and in all cases that I've seen, traffic flow either improved or if there was a decrease, it was on the order of 1-2 seconds per mile traveled. Additionally, in most cases, traffic accidents of all kinds were reduced. But, you wouldn't know it from listening to the anti-bike crowd. They see the reduction in lane count and immediately jump to "nobody rides bikes!", "run them over" or worse. Seriously, it's that bad. I'll also add that in some places, the bike lanes are rarely used, but that's as as direct result of poor designs created to silence the noisy motorists. Another local example - the main thoroughfare along my neighborhood has bike lanes. However, the lanes stop just prior to the two places you would want to ride your bike - the high school and the shopping center. So, of course fewer people use the lanes - they don't actually GO anywhere! It's infuriating. Edit - the sidewalks along this same thoroughfare also start/stop or switch sides. This makes it less tenable to walk to the school or shopping (the road is about 2 miles end-to-end; shopping center at one end, high school near mid-point). Lots of people are within 1 mile of either destination, but running back and forth across a 45mph busy road is simply unsafe. A pedestrian was killed a year ago running from the sidewalk on one side to his home on the other. How the heck is this even to code? Argh.

falcolas 6y ago
Humans are emotional more than rational. Positive numbers won't outweigh the anecdote of being stuck in a traffic jam while the bike lanes sit there, effectively empty. City planners and bicycle activists need to work with human nature, not against it.
- alistairSH 6y ago
  The only traffic jam on the road outside my house is caused by the hundreds of high school kids driving themselves to school instead of riding a bike (which they can't do, because the bike lane doesn't go that far, because their parents demanded the road be left untouched to make room for more cars).
  - falcolas 6y ago
    If over half of the high schoolers driving by your place would really chose to ride a bike instead of driving... Well, the high schoolers you know appear to be quite different than the high schoolers I know. Even myself - I couldn't wait to be able to drive to high school, nevermind the bus, my bicycle, carpooling with neighbors, etc.
    - alistairSH 6y ago
      Getting a car at 16 is only a thing because it means freedom from having mom/dad drive you everywhere. If alternate transit existed, this would resolve itself.
Yhippa 6y ago
Would be nice if Tyson's was bikeable and 7 as well. Lots of improvements are being made to the W&OD trail which is nice as well.
- alistairSH 6y ago
  Oh man, don't get me started on Tyson's Corner. The urban planner who decided to drop a major employment center inside the triangle made by 3 massive highways (with little/no housing, no transit access, and ridiculous street layout) needs a kick in the crotch.
naravara 6y ago
> That hasn't been my experience at all (living in the DC suburbs). In my experience what "first we make car transport less and less appealing" translates to is "we should allocate some of this land dedicated to free parking for other uses." Unfortunately you just can't have a walkable urban neighborhood and also a glut of free parking. But suburbanites insist that city-dwellers should shoulder the opportunity cost of making their wasteful transportation choices more convenient for them.
- sokoloff 6y ago
  Often it’s the businesses nearby that want that parking to remain. If you don’t give people a convenient means to come from where they live to where your business is, you can’t get their shopping dollar. I don’t care if it’s hard to get there; I’ll just shop someplace else that is convenient. I live on the edge of a city. Most of my shopping is out in the suburbs as they crush the city core on convenience of time and transport (and often on price due to overhead).
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > Unfortunately you just can't have a walkable urban neighborhood and also a glut of free parking With proper ventilation, subterranean roads and parking areas could enable this where geology is favorable, but it wouldn't be cheap.
  - naravara 6y ago
    This could maybe be viable for malls, stadiums, or huge residential buildings. But I don't see it working for rowhome/townhome heavy areas. Just not enough scale to be worth it.

falcolas 6y ago

Humans are emotional more than rational. Positive numbers won't outweigh the anecdote of being stuck in a traffic jam while the bike lanes sit there, effectively empty. City planners and bicycle activists need to work with human nature, not against it.

alistairSH 6y ago
The only traffic jam on the road outside my house is caused by the hundreds of high school kids driving themselves to school instead of riding a bike (which they can't do, because the bike lane doesn't go that far, because their parents demanded the road be left untouched to make room for more cars).
- falcolas 6y ago
  If over half of the high schoolers driving by your place would really chose to ride a bike instead of driving... Well, the high schoolers you know appear to be quite different than the high schoolers I know. Even myself - I couldn't wait to be able to drive to high school, nevermind the bus, my bicycle, carpooling with neighbors, etc.
  - alistairSH 6y ago
    Getting a car at 16 is only a thing because it means freedom from having mom/dad drive you everywhere. If alternate transit existed, this would resolve itself.

Yhippa 6y ago

Would be nice if Tyson's was bikeable and 7 as well. Lots of improvements are being made to the W&OD trail which is nice as well.

alistairSH 6y ago
Oh man, don't get me started on Tyson's Corner. The urban planner who decided to drop a major employment center inside the triangle made by 3 massive highways (with little/no housing, no transit access, and ridiculous street layout) needs a kick in the crotch.

naravara 6y ago

> That hasn't been my experience at all (living in the DC suburbs). In my experience what "first we make car transport less and less appealing" translates to is "we should allocate some of this land dedicated to free parking for other uses." Unfortunately you just can't have a walkable urban neighborhood and also a glut of free parking. But suburbanites insist that city-dwellers should shoulder the opportunity cost of making their wasteful transportation choices more convenient for them.

sokoloff 6y ago
Often it’s the businesses nearby that want that parking to remain. If you don’t give people a convenient means to come from where they live to where your business is, you can’t get their shopping dollar. I don’t care if it’s hard to get there; I’ll just shop someplace else that is convenient. I live on the edge of a city. Most of my shopping is out in the suburbs as they crush the city core on convenience of time and transport (and often on price due to overhead).
dragonwriter 6y ago
> Unfortunately you just can't have a walkable urban neighborhood and also a glut of free parking With proper ventilation, subterranean roads and parking areas could enable this where geology is favorable, but it wouldn't be cheap.
- naravara 6y ago
  This could maybe be viable for malls, stadiums, or huge residential buildings. But I don't see it working for rowhome/townhome heavy areas. Just not enough scale to be worth it.