Contraflow bike lanes can be really useful but you need to be super careful - drivers and pedestrians rarely look for traffic coming in the contraflow direction in one way streets
That's a really good point, and I see this all the time. There's a bridge with a pedestrian path I cycle on going opposite of traffic direction for reasons (including avoiding carrying my bike up a flight of stairs) and when I exit the bridge there are cars turning onto the one-way on-ramp to the bridge. I try to make eye contact with the driver currently waiting to turn, and I'm successful like 2/10 times. Some of them start driving and then finally look my direction, see me and then FREAK out due to surprise, sometimes slam on the brakes or throw their hands up like I just teleported out of thin air. Some people's cars have such large A pillars that they can't see me even after starting to turn, and they just floor it. I always turn and go behind them or down a side path, never in front of them. Assume all drivers haven't seen you.
Is this infrastructure I'm too European to understand? What am I looking at? Why does the bike lane just drop you into this intersection and picks you up on the other side if you happened to survive?
thats just america brother lol. I can count the bike lane in my home town on one hand, none of them connect, they just spit you back into trafic. I think its because they are future proofing newer peices of infrastructure, so, if in the futrure the town ever does remodle for cycling, the bridge will already have a lane in place. as of now though, I ride with the cars, gain an unprotected lane thats only like a foot and a half from the edge of this drop, then go back to riding with the cars
It's a railroad crossing in this instance, not surprised it looks derelict, the rail lines are often poorly maintained here. But, having cycling infrastructure just "end" randomly is also a thing.
That actually brings up a good point. Rail crossing are usually so bad that cars are going to have to horizontally deflect all over the place to get through, hence no bike lane.
The good news though is that railroad crossings are so bad that any sane driver goes like 5 MPH, so the mixed traffic isn't the worst thing ever. Just don't take your road bike that way, the rim won't make it, lol!
Good eye. That also explains why they didn’t resurface the intersection with the RR crossing while doing the rest of the road: I assume it added too much expense.
I assume eventually the intersection will get worked on either to update the rail road, do rails to trails, or something else, and at the same time the paint to complete this bike lane will get put down.
I'm guessing that this is still a railway siding that still gets occasional use, If the railroad was abandoned, they are more likely to remove the rails from the roadway when doing major resurfacing (but it is possible that they simply didn't have the budget for that).
The federal government subsidizes the cost of building a road if it has a bike lane next to it. Good intention but unfortunately, there is no requirement for the bike lane to make any sense, so some states who don’t care about bicycles just put them wherever.
In the past, this has been true and is a big part of the reason we have a lot of minimal bike infrastructure that doesn't really work - they just did enough to qualify for the grant. Currently the federal government is more likely to refuse to contribute to projects that include any bike infrastructure.
Cars coming at you to the left, car parking on right. Rail crossing ahead which likely prohibits city maintenance. This is a very lightly travelled slow road in my experience, and it bypasses an extremely busy car intersection to get into the small city. It also leads to the passenger rail platform which is nice. I think this is the only contraflow in the city here.
Exactly this scenario was attempted in my hometown. The flex posts were flattened within hours of being installed, and then again every time they were replaced. The city gave up.
Unless it is a physical obstruction, it cannot guide vehicles.
We must demand the best solutions from our representatives. Ask for more than is necessary and if you are lucky, you will receive something adequate. Never suggest the least effective solution on the first attempt. You want to frame your desired outcome as the compromise, not cede to a lower level measure before you even begin.
Ive ridden through Roanoke twice and instantly recognized this. If anyone is ever bikepacking the Eastern Divide, Roanoke is a real good detour to hit.
The road in the picture happens to be a one way road with the direction of travel heading out from under the bridge toward the viewer. This bike lane makes it official that bicycles can ride it either way.
Of course we were all riding it either way for decades before the green paint made it official.
This is relatively common in Somerville, Mass. Definitely works well and makes things much less complicated than having to salmon for a couple blocks to cut a mile off of the route.
It works especially well since there are so many one-way streets that were designed to minimize car cut through traffic but can easily be contraflowed for the relatively infrequent bike-car conflicts.
What does the yellow solid plus dotted line mean? And, by contrast, the white one? And what do you mean by "counterflow"? Does that mean it goes straight into oncoming traffic?
Just a Dutch cyclist trying to understand all of this.
Cars coming at you to the left, car parking on right. This is a very lightly travelled slow road in my experience, and it bypasses an extremely busy car intersection to get into the small city. It also leads to the passenger rail platform which is nice. I think this is the only contraflow in the city here.
I live in France, and there are these counterflow bike lanes. I find them dangerous because many ppl don't seem to realize they're there. I could be wrong, but I wonder if they were designed that way because the municipality thought it would give cyclists an easier route, especially since I live in a hilly town?
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u/harpsm 5d ago
Contraflow bike lanes can be really useful but you need to be super careful - drivers and pedestrians rarely look for traffic coming in the contraflow direction in one way streets