Michael Tobis wrote:
> We've had this discussion before, but it seems particularly germane, so...
>
> I will not bicycle the last 100 yards to the gate to my workplace; it
> would be suicidal. I have discussed this with others. One woman who
> comes from the same direction as I do was seriously considering
> parking her car a half mile from the campus, then habitually biking to
> her parking place, and driving the last half mile.
>
> Yes, there is pavement. It is risky enough in a car, though.
>
> Two lanes each way, plus a center left-turn "chicken" lane which must
> be entered at speed, and sometimes must cope with a competing user
> coming the other way, plus driveways off to the right on both sides.
> Lots of lane changes at high speeds. No shoulder, no sidewalk. The
> grassy areas on both sides could easily contain a bike lane but I am
> told they are owned by the Texas Department of Transportation, for
> whom the influence of non-motorized traffic is nil.
>
> There are various other spots on my commute that are almost as bad.
>
> The idea that bicycles could calm this sort of traffic is unrealistic.
> Texas is large and Texas vehicles are large. As a consequence of large
> vehicles traveling long distances on straight roads with narrow safety
> margins, there is a lot of momentum involved here. Taking up a traffic
> lane on a road like this with a bicycle at bicycle speeds is not safe.
Well I agree that "car is king" design can certainly lead to a very
hostile environment for cycling, and if attitudes are entrenched that
bicycles are toys to be put on the roof and carried to "leisure
facilities" at the weekend, then little is likely to change.
A quick glance at teh google suggests that your employer could possibly
ameliorate one part of the problem by opening a gate to the campus off
one of the quieter side streets. Or to put in another way, they could
just pull down the huge fence that makes the campus entirely
inaccessible apart from a couple of entrances off major roads :-) More
realistically, assuming the reason for the fence is that they are
paranoid about security and unwilling to man what would be a little-used
gate, a simple solution would be to install a small locked gate for
which regular users could apply for a key. It would only solve the
problem in one spot of course, but these little things can make a large
difference.
In fact there already *is* a gate at the top of Niels Thompson Drive,
with what looks like a disused entrance guard. Of course then there is
the issue of how to get to Niels Thompson Drive :-)
James
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