Did you try to take 10th from 2nd Ave yesterday by chance?
I don't know about 10th and 16th, but 10th and 2nd made me go up to 16th to head east as opposed to using Memorial. It seems kind of silly to have that stretch one lane and then switch over to 3 lane usage in Kensington.
The whole 2nd and 10th area is such a bottleneck already. I'm rarely driving down that way in the morning, but in the late afternoon, it's taken me as much as a half hour sitting at those lights waiting to turn south, and then another half hour to get the two blocks to the river. If they resolved the bottleneck in that stretch, I think they'd find that they could get by on one lane of southbound traffic down the hill. As it stands right now, it would simply cause existing congestion to back up further.
It's been about two weeks since the bike lanes on 10th Street popped up, and I wonder what people think about them.
The Calgary Sun seemed as though they were going to declare all out war on The City, but their coverage and particular brand of hyperbole has died down somewhat, and so to has the reactions from people I know who use 10th with any regularity.
Are these lanes going to be a non-issue in the future, after people have gotten use to them? Will they be here in the future?
I know they were created as part of The City's Cycling Strategy, but is that the goal of these lanes--simply to encourage alternate forms of transportation?
I admit I still am a little confused by the bike box concept, but I try not to cycle on roads and haven't taken the time to figure them out. But if bike lanes are created west of downtown, I may look into it.
Anybody here use them? Love/hate them? Confused by them? "What bike lanes?"
Honestly, I love the thing. It is nice fresh pavement, and it takes the spookiest part of my ride out, which is the bottom of 10th, all the way to Northmount Dr. And I don't have to worry about getting mowed down.
But honestly, the three times I have used it thus far, I haven't seen one other person using it. Albeit, it is late in the year. I would rather, for the motorists sake, go back to the old Commando cyclist way if nobody is going to use it. The sidewalk on the east side of 10th, is plenty wide enough to go up the hill pedaling, and you are only going at a jogging pace anyway when yo are climbing that hill (about 12kph). If the city just made that sidewalk an exception, like a few others in the city, I think that is a better solution, since everyone uses it going up the hill anyway. Going down on the other side, you can keep up with the traffic at 50 or 60 k, so that is a non issue.
Either way, I am not complaining since it is not on my drive route, and I only take that road when I cycle. But I can see how drivers would be annoyed with it. I think they will have to give it until into next summer to really determine the success/failure of it.
If we built a network of city wide roads for a special group of 1,000 cars, people would hang the mayor. That's ridiculous.
Well I think that the thinking just might be, and perhaps I am wrong on this, but if you develop the infrastructure so as to make it safer and easier to bike, than that number might grow and help to reduce some of the strain on the roads.
Of course, I am probably way, way off with that kind of long-term thinking.
Well I think that the thinking just might be, and perhaps I am wrong on this, but if you develop the infrastructure so as to make it safer and easier to bike, than that number might grow and help to reduce some of the strain on the roads.
Of course, I am probably way, way off with that kind of long-term thinking.
Considering we live in a near-perpetual state of winter, how much traction do you think that idea actually will have?
Does the infrastructure include extra snow clearing, heated lanes, and hot chocolate stops?
Well I think that the thinking just might be, and perhaps I am wrong on this, but if you develop the infrastructure so as to make it safer and easier to bike, than that number might grow and help to reduce some of the strain on the roads.
Of course, I am probably way, way off with that kind of long-term thinking.
It will only reduce strain on the roads if they don't take out car lanes while doing it. People should just face the reality that 'smart growth' means car travel is intentially congested to essentially force people either through cost or commute time to abandon their cars.
Considering we live in a near-perpetual state of winter, how much traction do you think that idea actually will have?
Does the infrastructure include extra snow clearing, heated lanes, and hot chocolate stops?
The Surprising Rise of Minneapolis as a Top Bike Town
Despite its cold weather and spread-out development patterns, a Midwestern city beat Portland, San Francisco and Boulder for the title of #1 Bike City. Jay Walljasper explains how.
Considering we live in a near-perpetual state of winter, how much traction do you think that idea actually will have?
Does the infrastructure include extra snow clearing, heated lanes, and hot chocolate stops?
I assume the bike lanes get plowed when the streets get plowed. As far as being cold? Cyclists adapt. When you are going out in the winter do you put on a winter coat and mitts or do you count on the city to provide you with heated sidewalks and hot chocolate stops?
Brilliant strategy, opening new bike lanes just in time for winter!
I guess the question to ask is if there really is a more opportune time of year to do it? It's not like existing bike lanes close just before winter, so it's not like any changes have to be made right after the initial conversion changes.
I get that in this particular case, it is apparently a year-long pilot project. Maybe spring might have been better so whomever might use it could have a longer time to get accustomed to it right off the bat. At the same time though, it was going to be in place for a winter anyway.
Wasn't the whole reason the 10th street lanes were done right now was because they were repaving the road so it was very easy to do and incurred no additional cost? That is the explanation I heard from Nenshi on QR77 the other week.
The Following User Says Thank You to Bigtime For This Useful Post:
Yup, it was installed now because the road was repaved and had no lines on it, so it costs the city nothing extra (it costs a significant amount of dollars to strip lines and repaint).
And without doubt, projects like this will certainly increase the number of winter cyclists. The extra dangers of winter biking over summer biking are minimized with bike lanes like this.
