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What do you think about the complete streets movement?
I smell video cameras *everywhere*. Maybe they should just send someone from the government out to hold the hand of every person who is trying to cross the street. Maybe that would help. ya think?
I smell video cameras *everywhere*. Maybe they should just send someone from the government out to hold the hand of every person who is trying to cross the street. Maybe that would help. ya think?
20yrsinBranson
what on earth does that have to do with the billl?
What do you think about the complete streets movement?
I think its one of the most dangerous, idiotic ideas of our time.
Has anyone ever seen a cyclist who is crazy enough to drive on a busy street obey all the traffic laws? No, they run stop signs or drive between cars. This simply means more dead cyclists. The slower moving vehicles should be separated, not intertwined. And cyclists who ride other than for leisure are a tiny, tiny fraction of commuters. Take out people at colleges and universities and its hardly anyone.
As our cities get more dense, we need to move traffic through more efficiently. This is designed to impede traffic.
And its up to the cities to build sidewalks. The feds should stay out.
I think its one of the most dangerous, idiotic ideas of our time.
Has anyone ever seen a cyclist who is crazy enough to drive on a busy street obey all the traffic laws? No, they run stop signs or drive between cars. This simply means more dead cyclists. The slower moving vehicles should be separated, not intertwined. And cyclists who ride other than for leisure are a tiny, tiny fraction of commuters. Take out people at colleges and universities and its hardly anyone.
As our cities get more dense, we need to move traffic through more efficiently. This is designed to impede traffic.
And its up to the cities to build sidewalks. The feds should stay out.
You do not understand how it works, complete streets means carving out space on each road for all of the types of traffic that will use it, pedestrians, bicycles, transit and cars.
It sounds counter-intuitive, but slower traffic also improves the safety for everyone on the road. Ro.ad speed and safety are really design conditions Traffic calming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Designing traffic for more road uses is better. We have some "complete" streets projects planned now, and they include wider sidewalks and physically separated bike lanes. It sounds amazing to me.
I am one of those "unicorns" if you will, who does sometimes bike for transportation. It is pretty popular where I live, and gets more popular as the infrastructure increases. I am not in college, didn't bike in college, I have a car, and I am not a white hipster.
I don't like busy streets, and I have biked on semi-busy streets. Stopping at red lights, stop signs and crosswalks. It isn't so crazy, I figured out that many errands take the same amount of time or less via bike vs car. So I might as well hop on my bike.
Just finished reading the report on the complete street survey I posted. And oddly, all of the results, not matter which mode to travel to the street was most used, lined up. The street needs better bike and transit "facilities" and that should be given the highest priority for street redevelopment. These answers stayed consistent, even for people who mostly drove to the street. The drivers also said improving the street for motorists was the lowest priority.
This is what I would call wide reaching consensus! (The survey respondents were roughly equal across biking, walking, transit, and driving. All totaling about 23-28% of the respondents.
You do not understand how it works, complete streets means carving out space on each road for all of the types of traffic that will use it, pedestrians, bicycles, transit and cars.
It sounds counter-intuitive, but slower traffic also improves the safety for everyone on the road. Ro.ad speed and safety are really design conditions Traffic calming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Designing traffic for more road uses is better. We have some "complete" streets projects planned now, and they include wider sidewalks and physically separated bike lanes. It sounds amazing to me.
I am one of those "unicorns" if you will, who does sometimes bike for transportation. It is pretty popular where I live, and gets more popular as the infrastructure increases. I am not in college, didn't bike in college, I have a car, and I am not a white hipster.
I don't like busy streets, and I have biked on semi-busy streets. Stopping at red lights, stop signs and crosswalks. It isn't so crazy, I figured out that many errands take the same amount of time or less via bike vs car. So I might as well hop on my bike.
In the Atlanta area, they seem only have plans to put them on busy streets. They've done it on Ponce de Leon near town, the only major east-west arterial in central Atlanta. They narrowed the lanes and striped off an edge for a bike lane. Its clogged traffic and I have yet to see a cyclist. Again, few are crazy enough. They're also talking about Peachtree which is the busiest arterial and one of two or 3 major north-south arterials. Its insane. Bike lanes should not be on major arterials. And they do have a trail through Candler Park and Freedom Park completely separate from auto traffic about a half mile south of and parallel to Ponce de Leon.
One of the Atlanta Regional Commissions goals is to make it more difficult to drive cars (they don't word it quite that way). There is no doubt in my mind that is behind a lot of the people pushing this in the area.
I think bike lanes are great. But they are primarily recreational and should be in safe areas, like the one in Candler/Freedom Park. In Houston they have a lot of trails along the bayous. The Braes Bayou trail is contiguous for at least 15 miles and will go (and may already be complete) all the way from the University of Houston southeast of downtown to near Beltway 8 and Bellaire Blvd some 15 miles west of downtown. Now Houston also has a bike lane on Westpark Drive, which my cycling friends say they would NEVER drive on except on a Sunday. Just too fast and with overpasses, too hard to be seen.
In the Atlanta area, they seem only have plans to put them on busy streets. They've done it on Ponce de Leon near town, the only major east-west arterial in central Atlanta. They narrowed the lanes and striped off an edge for a bike lane. Its clogged traffic and I have yet to see a cyclist. Again, few are crazy enough. They're also talking about Peachtree which is the busiest arterial and one of two or 3 major north-south arterials. Its insane. Bike lanes should not be on major arterials. And they do have a trail through Candler Park and Freedom Park completely separate from auto traffic about a half mile south of and parallel to Ponce de Leon.
One of the Atlanta Regional Commissions goals is to make it more difficult to drive cars (they don't word it quite that way). There is no doubt in my mind that is behind a lot of the people pushing this in the area.
I think bike lanes are great. But they are primarily recreational and should be in safe areas, like the one in Candler/Freedom Park. In Houston they have a lot of trails along the bayous. The Braes Bayou trail is contiguous for at least 15 miles and will go (and may already be complete) all the way from the University of Houston southeast of downtown to near Beltway 8 and Bellaire Blvd some 15 miles west of downtown. Now Houston also has a bike lane on Westpark Drive, which my cycling friends say they would NEVER drive on except on a Sunday. Just too fast and with overpasses, too hard to be seen.
There are different types of bike riders and different types of lanes. If you want people to trade car trips for bike trips, then bike lanes need to go on direct travel routes. If you put a lane on a major street, you should make it feel safe for all users. Buffered at the bare minimum, but having physical separation is best.
The link I posted is about a street I am too scared to ride one. There are fairly direct parallel routes I would take instead. But many many cyclists do ride the street. The count is about 1000 per day right now. In terrible conditions.
I have ridden on some busier streets during quieter times. I don't have a door to door safe bike route yet. So I am waiting for better infrastructure. Lots of people will sit on the fence till it looks and feels safe.
But if you only build recreation bike lanes, no one will use their bike to go to the drugstore.
In the Atlanta area, they seem only have plans to put them on busy streets. They've done it on Ponce de Leon near town, the only major east-west arterial in central Atlanta. They narrowed the lanes and striped off an edge for a bike lane. Its clogged traffic and I have yet to see a cyclist. Again, few are crazy enough. They're also talking about Peachtree which is the busiest arterial and one of two or 3 major north-south arterials. Its insane. Bike lanes should not be on major arterials. And they do have a trail through Candler Park and Freedom Park completely separate from auto traffic about a half mile south of and parallel to Ponce de Leon.
One of the Atlanta Regional Commissions goals is to make it more difficult to drive cars (they don't word it quite that way). There is no doubt in my mind that is behind a lot of the people pushing this in the area.
I think bike lanes are great. But they are primarily recreational and should be in safe areas, like the one in Candler/Freedom Park. In Houston they have a lot of trails along the bayous. The Braes Bayou trail is contiguous for at least 15 miles and will go (and may already be complete) all the way from the University of Houston southeast of downtown to near Beltway 8 and Bellaire Blvd some 15 miles west of downtown. Now Houston also has a bike lane on Westpark Drive, which my cycling friends say they would NEVER drive on except on a Sunday. Just too fast and with overpasses, too hard to be seen.
You clearly have not biked for transportation, at least not much. While bike lanes shouldn't be located on highways or 55mph roads, major arterials usually have more space and with dedicates lanes are great for commuting via bike. Bike commuters like less stop signs and lights, just like drivers.
Also, I'm curious as to why cycling is recreational only? I can see if you live in a very rural or sprawled environment, because it's not really as feasible to use it for such. However, there are lots of places where people depend on a bike for transportation...I am one in particular.
Another thing to consider, if you were to put yourself in the shoes of a commuting cyclist, is that rolling through stop signs isn't a bad thing...assuming that the cyclist is waiting their turn. I ride on a lot of streets where there is no bike lane. They are slow moving city streets and I can mostly keep up with traffic. However, stopping at every stop sign where it's vacant (no waiting cars at any of the other three stop signs) puts you in more danger and slows car traffic down. Here's the concept (Idaho Stop Law), which has been proven to be very successful:
Now, I'm completely with you in terms of cyclists running up the right or in between traffic where they don't have their own lanes. Nothing is more frustrating than having to pass a cyclist only to have them drift by you between your car and a parked car...and then having to pass them again. Yes, there are other frustrating scenarios that inexperienced and lazy cyclists perform.
All in all, I see complete streets as a way to get drivers more used to non-vehicular traffic. Pedestrians and cyclists exist either way, and complete streets only lower risk. It also doesn't mean that every single road should be a complete street. Ideally it would be, but financially and feasibly; not so much.
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