BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Very nice concept. But I'm not a fan of "wave" racks.

I'll take these over the old toasters, any day. I also like the idea of a thread where we show infrastructure in other areas. It overlaps the out-of-town thread a little, but no big deal. I'll be traveling myself in a few weeks, so will try to take some photos of the towns I travel to and through.

Love these. Would like them full of staple racks. It's immediately identifiable as bike parking, which is a huge complaint of mine when art racks are not obviously bike racks.

I took some photos in New York City in 2013. Not enough room for all the bikes. One of these things is not like the others. Lots of signs. But everyone does whatever they please. A bike is a great place to store any locks and chains that don't fit in your apartment.

Whoa! "Bike Route: Do not pass in shared lane" I can't believe i didn't think of that. I always wrack my brain thinking of how we could make a network of stress-free streets for cyclists without closing them to traffic entirely. Most streets go by people's houses so local access is almost always necessary. But how to enforce it? This is an amazing solution at first glance. Motorists would use car-advantaged streets to get near their destination, then turn onto the bike route for the last block or so. If there's a cyclist, they just have to wait, but it's not for very long because the destination is extremely close. Cars filtering through neighborhood streets to find the fastest route ensures that there is never a place to bike where you don't quickly have a motorist breathing down your neck expecting to pass. It wouldn't be so stressful at all if you knew they weren't expecting or allowed to pass. These streets could be given right of way with stop signs for cross streets and all without tempting drivers to filter because they'd soon be stuck behind a slow cyclist legally in the middle of the road. Small roads could be used that no one would miss. Can anyone think of reasons why bike-advantaged routes like this wouldn't just be better for everyone?

Because a substantial number of motorists ignore a substantial percentage of traffic laws?

I disagree that they would ignore the law in this case. You don't see motorists riding en masse in bike lanes. Or for a non-cycling example you don't see drivers making illegal mid-cycle lefts on red even at empty intersections. Expectations are clear and unlike passing distance and speed there is little to no gray area and it's easy to document a violation. No radar gun or yardstick required. I think a lot of aggressive driving still stems from the belief that cyclists are illegally impeding traffic. Without that justification, i severely doubt drivers would willfully choose a piddly surface street and then blatantly break the law, especially in the age of goPro.

"Because a substantial number of motorists ignore a substantial percentage of traffic laws?" I'm not sure that's relevant. To be considered successful, new laws or new signage don't need to change the behavior of 100% of motorists, because the goal isn't to make things perfect, merely better.

I posted a bit about my delightful, brief trip to Columbus, OH elsewhere in the "Trails within 100 miles..." thread, but here is something I found particularly mentionable. They are doing a pretty good job in Cbus. At one point on a neighborhood street that is designated as a "Bike Blvd", heavily marked with pavement graphics indicating that bikes should definitely be using the street with motor vehicles, there is a crossing of a busy 4 lane street. They have installed bike boxes with bike specific sensors - looks like just a denser layout of the sensor wires in the box - along with a sign indicating "To activate green wait on (symbol)". Along with being excellent at activating the green light, the sign carries the added bonus of passively demonstrating to drivers that there is an official sign instructing cyclists to stand RIGHT THERE. All around win.