For The Love Of God No More Bike Lanes Replacing Car Lanes - This Is Seattle Its Winter
The other day I noticed they took away a lane on what used to be a two lane main arterial, and made it into one lane with a bike lane. It is 40 degrees outside and drizzling. Only the most hearty are on a bicycle freezing here in Seattle for the next 5 months.
The traffic was backed up for 20 blocks at this "improvement". It was a two lane street Roosevelt, merging into 15th Northwest. The traffic was backed up behind the 125th street traffic light, all the way to 105th street. 20 F-ing blocks. Nothing was moving. Nothing.
Now I live as green as I can. I don't ride a bicycle for a number of reasons, mostly because it rains here, it is cold, and riding a bicycle is dangerous, especially if you can't see because your visor is wet. I drive a Volt, and rarely use gas, have super insulated my house, and use very little carbon to survive.
The point is, there was not one bicycle using the bike lane, and if they wanted to ride their bicycle, they could easily and even more safely ride one block to the East on residential streets. There was hundreds of cars backed up behind the traffic light, sitting at idle, and not even moving.
What is better for the environment. Having hundreds of cars sit and idle an extra half hour a day, so a half a dozen people can ride a bicycle, or have 2 lanes of traffic so people can get home in cars that burn less, and less gas, and even go electric?
Please answer that question all you rocket surgeons down at Seattle's City Hall...... By the way thousands of people have moved to Seattle recently, and the traffic is insane. Constantly they take away lanes from cars so buses can run once every 10 minutes, or worse yet so a couple people can ride bicycles while thousands sit in their cars in gridlock.
At some point someone is going to have to wake up.... They could put the bike trails / paths safely through residential neighborhoods, and leave the main streets moving people by the thousand. Make bicycle crossings of major streets. Everyone wins, and people can get home from work an hour earlier.
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Yallow
(1,926 posts)We are not cattle, to be herded onto bicycles in the 40 degree rainy winter.
msongs
(70,363 posts)out signaling in any way lol
MisterP
(23,730 posts)otherwise you're gonna sound like these biddies, whose parents were both brothers
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/sep/23/coronado-puts-brakes-all-future-bike-lanes-after-r/
Yallow
(1,926 posts)Don't necessarily have to go to school for 12 years to get a PHD for watching something stupid.
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)Spending 1 hour in a commute from Federal Way to Seattle thats crazy . The bicycle commuters are Local not out of towner's. Live close to where you work, don't drive all over hell. I got a Friend living in Shelton commuting to Renton Thats just crazy.
Yallow
(1,926 posts)Not saying we don't need to work on our "suburb mentality".
I am just saying taking away lanes so a hand full of people can ride bikes is insane.
What is needed is more lanes, improved transit, and electric cars.
(And mandatory carbon offsets)
Add carbon offsets to the price of energy, and when you burn your crud, the offsets plant trees, and lower the cost of electric vehicles, and solar and wind.
Neutral impact.
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)They should block off I -5 and use it for a parking lot. It already is. And thats not because of bicycles.
Yallow
(1,926 posts)Make it faster to take a bullet train, and have buses going east / west.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)....dumb-ass, creep-up-somebody's-ass-at-a-stoplight-then-let-a-150Ft-gap-when-the-light-changes that cause traffic problems.
The American driving test is a laughing stock.
Flying Squirrel
(3,041 posts)Crystalite
(164 posts)There's an interesting resistance to it, sometimes from the cycling community and always, of course, from the RW.
I learned that rail cars move more efficiently than any other wheeled form of transportation, very low rolling resistance.
All the cities used to have local rail, streetcars, like that, and then all the cities were convinced or bribed to remove them in favor of cars and buses.
It's time we go back!
We need more walkable cities and communities where you don't need a car at all!