5 ms·
Interesting ideas, though I can't imagine it getting a lot of support in the US, since it prioritizes bikes over cars. Chicago recently added separated bike la
by guptaneil 12y ago
Interesting ideas, though I can't imagine it getting a lot of support in the US, since it prioritizes bikes over cars.
Chicago recently added separated bike lanes to one of its streets, and it's definitely much more enjoyable and less stressful riding on that street than the rest of the city. In fact, whether or not I can spend most of my commute in that bike lane plays a huge factor in deciding if I'm going to bike to my destination. Unfortunately, even that bike line is flawed. For one, it relies on painted lines to separate the lane, which as the video in the article says, isn't that great a solution, since it doesn't physically keep the cars out. Taxis are the worst offenders and tend to treat the bike lane as their personal parking space.
Chicago also implemented dedicated traffic signals for bikes, as the article recommends, which sound amazing in theory. Unfortunately, most cars seem to completely ignore them and drive as they would on non-protected streets. For example, when the bike lane is green, the turn signal for cars is red. I rarely see cars actually obey that red light and regularly turn into oncoming bike traffic. Even worse is pedestrians who view the bike lane as an extension of the sidewalk, and will wait in the bike lane to cross the street.
These problems won't be fixed until protected bike lanes are the norm, rather than the exception, and following bike lane laws are taught in driver's ed and heavily enforced by police.
Unfortunately, nobody really cares about bikers. The New York Times had a great article last year about how hitting bicyclists isn't considered that big a deal[1].
1: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-to-kill-cyclists.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-to...
- zephjc 12y agoBelligerent, law-breaking drivers will foil most traffic flow schemes.
- bbarn 12y agoThose special two way bike lanes with the signals, down Dearborn I presume you mean, are the thing I avoid the most riding north/south. The "pedestrian extension" effect you mentioned is the sole reason why. We have another big problem at least in Chicago, and that's that it's such a polarizing issue that it's easy to make news articles and stir up so much inflammatory debate that any sensible lawmaker is likely terrified to even approach that territory. (See the tribune and John Kass' infamously baiting articles that get tons of hits)
- guptaneil 12y agoI am indeed referring to Dearborn. Is there a street that you prefer for north/south travel? While pedestrian extension is incredibly annoying and sometimes dangerous, it's still far better to me than biking in the middle of the road. Can't say I've read any of Kass's stuff, but I actually think Emanuel's done a decent job at adding as many bike lanes as he has. When he entered office, he set a goal to add 100 miles of bike lanes to the city. He's been adding between 20-40 miles a year since then. They're not perfect, but at least they're steps in the right direction.
- bwindels 12y agoRelated podcast: http://freakonomics.com/2014/05/01/the-perfect-crime-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/ http://freakonomics.com/2014/05/01/the-perfect-crime-a-new-f...
- Someone 12y ago"since it prioritizes bikes over cars." That is a way to look at it. Other ones are that it prioritizes the human scale over industrial scale, clean(er) air over pollution, an environment that keeps the population healthy over one promoting a sedentary lifestyle, an environment where people interact over one that distances people from each other. Also, including public transport: in many urban zones, public transport and biking infrastructure are large reasons why the city isn't gridlocked 24x7. In many Dutch city centers, that separate bicycle lane takes more traffic than the two car lanes alongside it. One can argue that a bike lane that gets used, even if it is built at the cost of a car lane, makes the other car lanes in the street less busy. If you accept a few of those as valid claims, you are more likely to accept the introduction of separate bike lanes. "These problems won't be fixed until protected bike lanes are the norm, rather than the exception" Agreed. "and following bike lane laws are [...] heavily enforced by police." That, I disagree with. If you still need strong enforcement, you aren't there yet. If almost every car driver also is, at times, a cyclist, or at least knows how it was to cycle regularly, you don't need strong enforcement anymore.