A recent posting on Austin360.com's Fit City blog by Pam LeBlanc talks about the ongoing frustration of the two-way bike lane on Great Northern. We all know how popular Great Northern has become for cyclists, runners, and walkers. The blog post raises the question of whether bike lanes should only be for bikes. According to the blog, the City's position is bike lanes are for cyclists, sidewalks are for pedestrians. You can read the blog posting here. What do you think? Since Great Northern is in our neighborhood and many of us use it, tell us what you think about use of the two-way bike lane.
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I believe that if cyclists want cars and other vehicles to share the roads, then they need be willing to share the road with pedestrians.
I feel it’s less about WHO uses it and more about the structure of the lanes. They should be one two sides of the road (headed one way) instead of on one side. If you are headed north on a bike, and need to pass a slower bike (or even a jogger), you are forced out into oncoming traffic. That’s just plain bad planning.
The routes should be multi-purpose, but be designed with safety in mind for those who might be passing.
We all know how popular Great Northern has become for cyclists, runners, and walkers. The blog post raises the question of whether bike lanes should only be for bikes.
The lanes in question have been deliberately placed so that those who use then have an uninterrupted 1.5 miles to walk, bike, whatever. I use these lanes for BOTH walking and biking … no streets and driveways to watch for cross traffic for a 1.5 miles. When biking, I yield to ALL traffic in the lanes. Come on cyclists, the vehicular traffic count is so low on Great Northern that it is almost a joke to have the lanes.
No … do not remove them … but come on … is it really that hard to share? If you do not like things the way they are, walk, cycle, whatever somewhere else.
If it will help, perhaps everyone should know why the two-way bike was created in the first place. There was a school zone change where students at Lucy Read Elementary were shifted to Gullet Elementary. The Lucy Read parents insisted on a bike lane for the safety of their kids. The bike lanes were created for that purpose only, and back then, there just weren’t all the adult cyclists we have today.