Every day I ride into work I'm happy to be pedaling down the SW path and I'm thrilled with the amount of riding I can do on paths both in the city and surrounding area. That said, one new bike lane where previously there was none has actually made my commute worse, and, I believe, more dangerous.
Painted bike lanes were recently added to Hammersley Road south of the beltline between the bike/ped overpass and Gilbert Road. The westbound lane isn't bad. It's a separate lane several feet out from the curb. The eastbound lane is a different story. The bike lane, such as it is, is really just the space between the stripe indicating the right edge of the auto lane and the curb. The problem here is that even in the best conditions where the gutters are completely free of debris, I'm not sure there's a full three feet of clearance available between a car (much less a city bus) and my left side. In reality, where this part of the road is covered in debris, as it has been for the last several weeks, I need to ride a couple of feet out from the curb and this puts my near or in the new "car lane." Now that these stripes exist cars and buses seem to think they need to stay in their lane and bikes need to stay in theirs. I've had buses blow past me just inches to my left. I've ridden this stretch of road almost daily for several years and haven't been honked at until these stripes were laid. I'm assuming I'm getting honked at because drivers no believe I'm out in "their" lane when I'm avoiding debris in the "bike lane." Arthur, can you or anyone else comment on this design? Has anyone else had any trouble here? I no longer ride east-bound here and instead travel on other neighborhood streets down to Reetz and then go north to Hammersley and the bridge to the SW path. Thanks, Eric White _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
