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YouTubeDesperately need a bike lane all the way up and down Neil Ave!
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion » Transit
Where would you put 12 miles of Bike Lanes Downtown?
[76 posts] [27 contributors]
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NerosNeptune
Goodale Park
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Neil Ave *is* a bike lane.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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NerosNeptune said: Neil Ave *is* a bike lane.
Not to mention roads like Hunter, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The latter two are beautiful roads perfect for cycling. Improve the crossing at 5th and King and you would have a near textbook bike boulevard.
I'll throw a challenge out: if anyone really feels too scared to ride on the roads shoot me a PM. I'll meet you at Rhodes park on W. Broad, we'll go for a bike ride and you can experience the type of lanes er can expect to see from this initiative.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Molly said:
Desperately need a bike lane all the way up and down Neil Ave!Where would it go and what do you take away to create one? There is only so much road width to work with and Neal is pretty well occupied as is. This was the biggest point around the W. Broad bike lanes, the proposed removal of on street metered parking in the business district of the neighborhood. Broad had a lot more width/space to work with than Neal and it still took months of compromise to find a solution.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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columbusmike
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NerosNeptune said:
Neil Ave *is* a bike lane.I'd have to agree with this. I bike Neil almost every day and it's a wonderful ride. The lights seem to be timed almost perfectly and motorists are pretty courteous to those on two wheels. They could stripe the road to provide "bike lanes", but there really doesn't need to be anything more than that.
I personally have to be extremely careful once I hit Upper Arlington....soccer moms in their SUV's are absolutely insane (I'm not kidding).
I think generally the more bikes on the rode, the better. It makes motorists more aware and traffic actually seems to move quite well. Generally, most roads don't need more width for bike lanes (I actually believe we need to put roads on a diet)...they just need more awareness and common courtesy.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Pickerington_Kyle
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lifeontwowheels said:
So what are we getting out of this?This:
or this:
I want actual bike lanes, not like the one's on photo no.1 I would love the one on photo no.2, but I don't think we can build that, except on Broad Street. I'd say we should go with photo no.4 on streets like long, 3rd, and 4th street.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Pickerington_Kyle said:
I want actual bike lanes, not like the one's on photo no.1 I would love the one on photo no.2, but I don't think we can build that, except on Broad Street. I'd say we should go with photo no.4 on streets like long, 3rd, and 4th street.Well those are the ones on W. Broad.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
eltoe
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I'll add another plug for thinking beyond downtown and developing some east - west connections. I ride in from the west side and can catch the Olentangy River trail or Neil to go north - south once I'm east of 315. I generally ride in on 3rd, but have had a number of less than pleasant experiences where the road constricts under the railroad crossing just west of Olentangy River road (especially in bad weather). Goodale is equally bad and I expect both with get worse with increasing future traffic at the Grandview Yard development. Third Ave west of 315 is wide enough for bike lanes in both directions if the rarely used on street parking was removed on the south side and the lane divider was centered.
I'm glad to hear the city is thinking about this...Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Pickerington_Kyle
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They need more bike trails between Downtown and The OSU Campus, and German Village.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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...research published yesterday suggests that when cyclists ride in dedicated lanes motorists give them less room. Teams at Leeds and Bolton universities, supported by CTC, the national cyclists' organisation, put a camera on the back of a bike being ridden along three roads in the north of England. Analysis of the footage revealed that drivers gave up to 18cm (seven inches) more space to cyclists on stretches without cycle lanes. The findings question the perceived wisdom that slapping down strips of green paint and white lines makes riding safer. And as cycling continues to enjoy a boom, the suggestion that cycle lanes could be endangering rather than protecting users highlights increasingly fraught relationship between riders and drivers.
I will be fair and note that the article's conclusions are mixed. It notes that narrower lanes are where we see this problem but wider cycle paths (which I can almost guarantee you won't see downtown) can be effective. Easy, quick read.
Posted 4 days ago # -
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Get the Video Plugins Posted 2 days ago # -
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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lifeontwowheels said:
New study out of the UK:...research published yesterday suggests that when cyclists ride in dedicated lanes motorists give them less room. Teams at Leeds and Bolton universities, supported by CTC, the national cyclists' organisation, put a camera on the back of a bike being ridden along three roads in the north of England. Analysis of the footage revealed that drivers gave up to 18cm (seven inches) more space to cyclists on stretches without cycle lanes. The findings question the perceived wisdom that slapping down strips of green paint and white lines makes riding safer. And as cycling continues to enjoy a boom, the suggestion that cycle lanes could be endangering rather than protecting users highlights increasingly fraught relationship between riders and drivers.
I will be fair and note that the article's conclusions are mixed. It notes that narrower lanes are where we see this problem but wider cycle paths (which I can almost guarantee you won't see downtown) can be effective. Easy, quick read.
I've seen similar research results before, but it's not clear to me that the car being closer to the cyclist is actually causing more crashes. It could be that the bike lanes just improve the ability of motorists to judge their lateral position, so they don't move over more than they need to. This could actually reduce sideswipe or head-on crashes with other vehicles.
Posted 2 days ago # -
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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johnwirtz said:
I've seen similar research results before, but it's not clear to me that the car being closer to the cyclist is actually causing more crashes. It could be that the bike lanes just improve the ability of motorists to judge their lateral position, so they don't move over more than they need to. This could actually reduce sideswipe or head-on crashes with other vehicles.Which is where design becomes very important if we're going to put lanes in. I'll grant that lines can provide guidance but I'd rather have a buffered lane, as illustrated in the videos above, than what's in place around Central Ohio currently.
Posted 2 days ago # -
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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lifeontwowheels said:
Which is where design becomes very important if we're going to put lanes in. I'll grant that lines can provide guidance but I'd rather have a buffered lane, as illustrated in the videos above, than what's in place around Central Ohio currently.Agreed, but not every street will have space for a buffer. My point was that I don't think standard bike lanes are inherently dangerous, and I doubt they are more dangerous than unmarked roads (as the article seems to imply). Like anywhere else, you just have to learn how to use them as safely as possible.
Posted 1 day ago #
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