Secrets of the City

Today’s question on MPR: Does it make sense to reduce car lanes for the benefit of bikes?

I suppose that depends if your a biker or drive a car. Not really, though, since even when I drive I far prefer the bikers to be out of my lane.

Officials are getting ready to expand walking and biking routes in the Twin Cities. In some places that will mean closing off space to cars.

How do you feel about this?

Comments on the site lead to a resounding YES, but suggest that they be limited to certain streets.

Abdt takes a look at the Hennepin Ave bike lane, which is having its own funeral tonight before its transformation: It is the only place I have ever been blown off my bike by a gust of wind. … On Hennepin, a tremendous rain storm kicked in out of nowhere, and the attendent wind went whipping through the buildings in way I’ve never experienced here before. A particularly strong gust knocked me ass over end onto the street, where I sat dazed on the pavement for a second, then picked up and headed off.

What are your experiences with this bike lane?

Write a piece about how bicyclists are annoying to automobile drivers and wait for the angry comments to pour in.

I got pulled over on my bike for running a red light recently. I recognize I shouldn’t have done that, but I did, and I paid my time accordingly. The cop said to me “you are the same as a car on these streets, and you have to follow the same laws accordingly”. What pisses me off is the contradictory message that is being sent to bikers that, in abiding the law, we have to follow the same rules as other vehicles, yet when it snows we are an afterthought, or worse yet, are completely forgotten. Nearly my entire route from downtown to the U of M consists of bike lanes STILL covered in snow, slush, and ice. THREE days after it snowed and we still don’t have access to clean paths on the city streets. The car lanes were cleaned and salted the very same night. So my message to the mayor (or whoever runs this Mickey Mouse operation) is the following: If you want me to act like a civilized Lexus driver, then start treating me like one.