Yet, only a small fraction of streets have dedicated bike lanes, and with an installation cost of $5,000 to $50,000 per mile, we shouldn’t expect to find them e

Yet, only a small fraction of streets have dedicated bike lanes, and with an installation cost of $5,000 to $50,000 per mile, we shouldn’t expect to find them everywhere anytime soon. Why are they so expensive? Adding a bike lane consists of painting a stripe down the side of the road and adding a little icon of a cyclist. The latter could just be painted with a stencil. Keeping the line parallel to the others means a road maintenance truck would probably do it, but is there really that much bureaucratic overhead? That's $1-10 per foot of bike lane. I saw a system that attached a paint roller to the back wheel for a "DIY bike lane", for something that uses paint rather than lasers. (I can't find the link.) I still don't think it's a good idea, but paint of any kind is probably an improvement over lasers. Is adding bike lanes even approaching the problem from the right angle, though? They arguably help prevent a driver from hitting you from behind, but they don't improve misunderstandings about intent/right-of-way at intersections, which is where more collisions actually occur.