Bike Lanes

[sillylucy]

My town is in serious need of a bike lane. Bike riders all on the sidewalks and making it dangerous for pedestrians. What can I do to go about getting bike lanes in my city?

[thenextGeek]

I'm also very curious. Most cities and towns here in my country doesn't even have bike lanes. I really wish to have bike lanes, much like those in Japan. It helps people to save by saving gas money or transportation expenses, it helps people get their dose of daily exercise, and it helps the environment by reducing the harmful gases that come from vehicles.

I think that we should contact the local city hall and pitch them our idea. It may sound like a long shot but hey, at least we need to try right?

[Jessi]

Just how many bikes are there?

It's a huge amount of money needed to create those sort of lanes even if you get it approved, so you're gonna need to have good reason for them.

Maybe pull some data about pedestrian/bike accidents, etc, to back up your case?

[Rhonda]

Here it is illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk yet there aren't any bike lanes. The next town over has bike lanes covering much of the town and I enjoy riding there. Even though drivers are supposed to not hassle bikers, they often do where I live and it makes for a very uncomfortable ride. They blast their horns at you and won't allow you to cross quite often.

[Jessi]

In the last place I lived, we actually didn't have a lot of sidewalks either, so bikers were always in the lanes of traffic. It was more of a nuisance to drivers than pedestrians, but we didn't have enough bikers to warrant a full set of lanes either.

[sillylucy]

I live in Los Angeles and I guess they won't create them because most people here drive. If there were more bike lanes then I think people would use them. There is one bike bath and two bike lanes where I live. All of them are heavily used so there is an interest (more so now that gas is so expensive). Thanks for the tips Jessi!

[Simon]

In the last place I lived, we actually didn't have a lot of sidewalks either, so bikers were always in the lanes of traffic. It was more of a nuisance to drivers than pedestrians, but we didn't have enough bikers to warrant a full set of lanes either.

And you won't get more people cycling without offering them safe and proper infrastructure! :rolleyes:

[thomas pendrake]

My city has some bicycle lanes and tries to market itself as bike friendly. We are on a major bicycle tourist route and the city and county have done a marvelous job of creating a bike route for these tourists in the hope of cashing in on the tourist traffic. I suspect that the construction was paid for out of Federal and State funds and probably some community groups. Much of the route is also part of a rails-to-rails trail.