Controversy has hit the bike lane.
Bicycle-friendly cities like Eugene, Ore., Gainesville, Fla., and Palo Alto, Calif., have developed extensive bike lane networks since the 1970s, and bigger cities such as Chicago and Houston have begun to paint bike lanes on streets as a way of encouraging bicycle use, according to the Web site bicyclinginfo.org.
But as the site BicycleUniverse notes, bike lanes have long been a contentious topic among cyclists, drivers and city planners who debate the safety value of the lanes and whether they really encourage more cycling.
Now Slate magazine has weighed in with a funny video that claims to have found the “stupidest bike lane in America.” Slate video editor Andy Bowers dons a camera-helmet to capture the action as he pedals through the Westwood neighborhood near the University of California, Los Angeles campus. But the journey lasts only a few seconds — this bike lane, extending 275 feet, is less than a block long. Even so, Mr. Bowers is open to the notion that there might be an even sillier bike lane elsewhere, and he is seeking “stupid bike lane” submissions. Do you have a stupid bike lane story to share?
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From 1 to 25 of 145 Comments
We have a brand new bike lane that runs for 1 block through the UNC-CH medical campus and school of public health area. The road is one way, used to be 3 lanes wide for through traffic. Now it is 2 lanes for traffic and one for buses, with the bike lane sandwiched between cars and buses. The big problem comes when the lane ends and bikes must contend with buses moving left to continue through and cars moving right to turn while cyclists are stuck in the middle. I’m not a cyclists (prefer walking) but I can’t imagine that it’s safe or enjoyable.
— MPThe problem is that bike lanes, at least in the United States, are planned and laid out by people who don’t bicycle through the streets and who have no clue and don’t really care about the challenges that cyclists face. Their only interest is to be able to say to their superior that “I’ve laid out x miles of bike lanes” whether or not those bike lanes actually help cyclists. Often bike lane planners take no account of turning traffic or helping cyclists to execute turns safely. And then there is a complete lack of enforcement. Even the best bike lanes often become double-parking zones. The real solution is enforcing respect for cyclists among motorists and taxing motor vehicles to compensate for their pollution, danger, and use of scarce resources to the point where drivers will consider cycling. The real impediment to cycling is not a lack of bike lanes, but the volume and aggressiveness of motor traffic.
— Mark OWhen cities are planned properly to accommodate bicycle traffic (i.e. most areas in the Netherlands) bike lanes are completely separated from motor vehicle traffic, not merged in the same lane of travel, and they have their own traffic lights. The American tendency to accommodate bicycles by retrofitting already congested motorways by reducing the number of lanes or by painting a bike lane in an already existing motor lane (so both vehicles can use it simultaneously I assume)is foolish. When urban areas weren’t designed with bicycle traffic in mind it’s not possible with the congestion we have today to suddenly add bike lanes everywhere. It may be a nice idea, but it’s pure folly.
— MattyI commuted by bicycle for years in Chicago. The system of bike lanes made a huge difference for me and I planned my routes to take advantage of them. There may well be stupid bike lanes, but Chicago’s system helped to make everyday travel by bike a viable option for me and many others.
— Paul EvansStupidity or insanity? Just wait until the weather warms up and try to cycle on the West-Side bike-path between Battery Park and Chelsea Piers where the majority of the anarchy rules.
There is a lane for cyclists and roller bladers and an enourmous path, not to mention the rest of the City, for pedestrians. Admittedly, there are a few places where the path must be shared due to construction. Why do runners who shouldn’t be there in the first place feel entitled to run side by side or with their pets? What is it with the strollers??? IT IS A BIKE PATH. There are also cyclists with their pets running alongside (attached to a leash) There is an area adjacent to the path so I don’t understand why they don’t use it. Why there is no enforcement I will never understand. I have left off the tourists both International and domestic who pretend that they can’t read.
It is a safety issue as well as a fairness issue as well as a tinderbox that is certainly going to blow one of these days.
— AlbertThese one block long bike lanes sound like a politican’s scam to the public. Now they can boast that they support bicycle usage, greener environment, etc and claim that they fulfilled the promise.
— SCThe few bike lanes in lower manhattan only serve as illegal stopping and parking zones for cars. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one open for more than 50 feet.
— BrainESome bike lanes are really stupid, yes. Like the ones just to the left of a busy left-hand turn lane. But what’s REALLY stupid, for us cyclists, is how often we get busted for trying to keep ourselves safe on the roads (ie riding on the sidewalk for a block on a road where traffic seems particularly crazed, where drivers turn a one lane street into three, or choosing not to use a bike lane because trucks are parked in it), when taxis who treat the bike lanes as extra swerve-space, muscle cars doing 70 on a residential street, and every idiot on a cell phone, literally put our lives in danger.
Also, cyclists need to step up and follow (most) of the rules so that people get used to us and start respecting our presence on the road. That means: no headphones, no cell phones, ride with traffic, etc.
— Lindsayatlanta, which is well known for its amazing collective stupidity when it comes to any public works issue, has painted bike lanes on west peachtree and spring streets, two of the busiest 3/4-lane +/-50 mph arterials in the city. that alone is stupid enough. but the real cherry is the location of the bike next to the passenger side of the paralell parking lane. “america’s funniest (read: sadistic) home videos” should put up permanent cameras to catch the bike and car door comedy crashes. atlanta - “a million laughs”
— The O-GeeThere is a brand new bike lane that defies all logic on Bleecker Street in Manhattan, between Elizabeth and Bowery. The bike lane goes from the left-side of the one-way street into the center of the street as it leads up to the light at the end of Bleecker on Bowery. The cyclist is supposed to coss-over the car traffic from left-to-right, and end-up in the center of the road at the light, between two lanes of car traffic- one that turns left, and one that turns right.
The bicycle lane dissapears beyond the end of Bleecker, where the cyclist is left to his/her own devices to figure out how to proceed through this busy intersection, after having been “dumped” in the middle of both lanes of traffic!
— Jason B.Word has it that the new Bay Bridge span being built from Oakland to Treasure Island has a bike lane — that’s great except that the section from Treasure Island to San Francisco does not, thereby thwarting the hopes of would be bike commuters from the east bay to SF. How many people would really want to take a ride out to Treasure Island? Probably not many.
— Paul ParentStupid bike lanes since 2001, courtesy of Warrington Cycle Campaign.
This month’s a doozy.
http://www.warringtoncyclecampaign.co.uk/facility-of-the-month
— markhrI Basel, Switzerland, we saw an intriguing bike lane - one that went in the opposite direction to the one-way auto traffic. It worked well, since the street was a little wider than necessary for one lane of cars, and saved riders from a longer trip to avoid the one-way street.
Of course, we did see a paved bike/pedestrian only pathway, where people actually obeyed the sign telling riders to dismount from their bikes and walk them down the short, steep section. Hard to imagine thta happening here in the U.S.
— Gerald WeinandThat can’t be the “stupidest bike lane in America” as it apparently does not encourage cars to park in it ;-)
— HatterWhat about the fact that many bike lanes have street parking in the lane to the bike path’s right? What better way to ensure that bikers get doored as the drivers open the door to leave their cars? It’s just general dumb/dangerous design.
— SamYes, that bike lane is stupid, but the real question is why it’s like that.
I don’t know how things work in LA, but I used to be somewhat informed on how things worked in DC. DC was never going to wholesale institute bike lanes throughout the city all at once, for any number of reasons–budget priorities, urban planning issues, etc. So city planners, in cooperation with bicycle advocates, started implementing bike lanes piecemeal where they could–with plans already formed for where future lanes would connect them. Over time, with future road budgets and approval, bike lanes would become much more ubiquitous. Maybe the same is true for LA?
The fact that there could end up–hopefully temporarily–being “stupid” bike lanes shouldn’t be a commentary on the stupidity of bike lanes or of riding your bike in the city, but rather the stupidity of a city that insists on thinking about urban planning in only one way–with cars at the center.
I wish the video would have said something about that…
— Matt Min NYC on 6th ave there is a bike lane (painted and filled with double parkers) which begins suddenly at 10th street. There is often a police officer parked at that corner waiting to ticket cyclists who have been riding up 6th ave on the other side of the street where there is no bike lane, and suddenly find themselves on the other side of the street from the magically appearing bike lane.
— jvfIn Glenview, IL, there’s one that crosses a low volume street, replaces a sidewalk, then crosses back less than a block later and dead ends. Total length maybe a bit over a block.
I’ll give them a break, though, because this is intended to EVENTUALLY be part of the Techny Trail and was put in to “save the right of way” when a new train station was constructed.
I wonder if the bike lane in the video is also part of some longer scheme that’s not yet fully funded?
— ZBicyclistI like this one..
— Craighttp://www.carectomy.com/images/image/tinybikelane.jpg
Right here in NYC on the eastern edge of City Hall the bike lane on the Centre Street approach to the Brooklyn Bridge is invariably parked solid with official, police and press vehicles on weekdays, and has been for years.
And no, this isn’t an April Fool’s post.
— JMLAs a bike commuter it often seems to me that city planners don’t actually think of the bike lanes as used by people riding bicycles, but more as decorative stripes near the curb that people can park in, jog in, walk their strollers in, etc., that make the city appear more “green”.
More logical bike lanes, please.
— N from GainesvilleMore drivers not attempting to kill us for using alternate modes of transport, pretty please.
Pete Owens of the Warrington Cycle Campaign’s “Facility of the Month” presented a video of stupid bike lanes in England last summer during the “How New Yorkers Ride Bikes” event hosted by David Byrne.” It was hysterically funny.
http://www.warringtoncyclecampaign.co.uk/facility-of-the-month
— ClaudiaIn Washington DC bike lanes can be problematic. They tend to disappear for long stretches in the middle, for example, and often parallel city bus routes with the result that buses frequently trundle along completely blocking them rather than moving out into the street. Sometimes it is easier to bike along a street without a bike lane than one that actually has one.
— D. Edward FarrarI’m quite familiar with that area, and that bike lane serves a very important purpose. A good portion of the car traffic at that intersection makes a right turn onto Weyburn Ave to connect over to Veteran Ave during evening rush hour. By having a marked bike lane there, drivers are less likely to make a right turn through a bicyclist continuing down Gayley. As much of the traffic turns off Gayley at that point, the need for a bike lane to continue is lessened. It may seem silly as presented in the video, but has likely reduced car on bike accidents at this intersection significantly.
— Kevin McCabeWe have a “stupid” bike lane here in Morehead City, NC. While it looks great, with clear signage and separation from the traffic lanes, it runs for about a block between a large 4-lane road and a feeder road for a shopping center. This is a very pedestrian and bicycle unfriendly area, so I am hoping it is at least a start in the right direction!
— Patty in NC