Wide Streets Downtown

[SXSW]

I always knew our one way streets downtown were wide but really looked at them recently and noticed on several, such as 1st, 2nd, Detroit, and Cincinnati, among others, there were two lanes for on-street parking on both sides and four lanes for traffic.  How hard would it be for the city to give up one of the lanes and create a bike lane instead?  Or even go the extra mile and expand the sidewalk, add street trees (in areas that don't already have them), and install a smaller bike lane while still preserving on-street parking and three lanes of traffic. 

[carltonplace]

The one way streets (with a few exceptions) need to go back to two way starting with Main, Boulder and Cheyenne. Some should move to angled parking instead of parallel and bike lanes should be inserted strategically.

Also, we should not let the building owners dictate how the street will look/work. We got screwed on Boston Ave because the owners did not want to choke down to two lanes and did not want angled parking.

[PonderInc]

There's plenty of room for pedestrians, sidewalk cafes, bike lanes, boulevards with trees, and parking.  Just waiting for one particular director of myopic public works to retire...

[Kenosha]

There's plenty of room for pedestrians, sidewalk cafes, bike lanes, boulevards with trees, and parking.  Just waiting for one particular director of myopic public works to retire...

Haha...you think the guy who is going to replace him will be better in that regard? 

[custosnox]

Haha...you think the guy who is going to replace him will be better in that regard? 

I think the squiral in my front lawn would be better.  It wouldn't take much.

[Renaissance]

Well, you could add streetcar tracks to a wide road like 2nd St.  Oh wait, sounds like somebody thought of that already!

[TheArtist]

The one way streets (with a few exceptions) need to go back to two way starting with Main, Boulder and Cheyenne. Some should move to angled parking instead of parallel and bike lanes should be inserted strategically.

Also, we should not let the building owners dictate how the street will look/work. We got screwed on Boston Ave because the owners did not want to choke down to two lanes and did not want angled parking.

Building owners perhaps, but we were told it was the businesses along Boston that didnt want the streets that way. I doubt it was the businesses along Boston that had any problem with them widening the sidewalks.  I think that statement was a complete ruse. Of the businesses I have talked to that were along the street, they would have welcomed wider sidewalks.   I dont even think they even asked anyone, they just did what they wanted to do and as far as I can tell, told us a line of crap.   

[Ed W]

Angled parking and bike lanes don't mix.  Angled parking slots are a problem for anyone on two wheels, but they're especially problematic for cyclists as they would normally be fairly close to the backs of those cars, pretty much out of sight of any motorists about to back up. 

The redevelopment folks periodically try to get angled parking along Archer, and to do that they've 'suggested': bi-directional bike lanes, bike paths that duck through alleys and along sidewalks, and an 'improved' route that went up north of the IDL, climbing a hill in the process.  Honestly, their proposed alternate route added over a mile to traverse a section of Archer that's less than half a mile long.  Cyclists would take the shortest, flattest route - right along Archer with all those angled parking slots.  The last time this plan came up was last summer, so I expect we get this summer off.  It'll be back next year.

Still, riding a bike downtown isn't that difficult.  The streets are wide making passing fairly easy more most drivers, and the speed limits are low.  Take the lane and screw 'em if they don't like it.

[custosnox]

Still, riding a bike downtown isn't that difficult. 

You would think that, but some would seem to give reason to argue otherwise.  Was behind one yesterday evening that was pulling a small trailer with his bike.  It was one of the smaller roads East of Elwood so couldn't go around him without going into the oncoming lane.  Didn't really bother me being stuck behind him, what got me was he didn't seem to understand that if your going to ride in the street, that standard traffic laws apply to him as well.  Everytime we hit a red light (everyone we came to was red, go figure) he never came completely to a stop.  He would weave back and forth trying to keep from having to put his feet down, slowly creeping forward.  He was constanly blocking the crosswalk and at one point made it past the middle of the cross street before the light change. 

[Ed W]

I rode home with a guy who went in circles at a traffic light, setting my hair on end.  You really don't know what he's going to do or what direction he'll take.

Some of this behavior comes from a misplaced fear of being hit by a motor vehicle.  Cyclists - or more properly 'guys on bikes' - ride up and down off of sidewalks into the street, cut through parking lots, ride against traffic, and do not stop for signals or stop signs.  One told me he did that because every motorist was out to kill him.

As for your guy creeping forward, he probably couldn't do a track stand, but then, neither can I.  Oh, I've tried, but the results have been both painful and embarrassing.

[Weatherdemon]

That's a whole other issue.
Bikes want cars to "share the road" but most also don't feel they need to obey traffic lights, stop signs, or many other rules of the road.

I'm all about sharing the road with you, but you have to follow the laws as well.

[TheTed]

If automobile drivers want to use our streets, they really need to start following the rules of the road.

I can't count the number of times daily people don't use turn signals, go straight out of turn only lanes (like the moron who hit a bus a few weeks ago), wait until they're at the intersection to start crossing solid lane lines because they're in the right lane and want to turn left, etc., etc., etc.

A couple times recently I've even seen people going the wrong way down a one-way, then turn the wrong way onto another one-way. Now that's an impressive feat of driving inability.

[Cats Cats Cats]

I don't see any issue with a bike using one of the lanes.  I don't know why we need to spend money to mark them off.  There is hardly anybody on a given road in the first place. 

[TheTed]

I don't see any issue with a bike using one of the lanes.  I don't know why we need to spend money to mark them off.  There is hardly anybody on a given road in the first place. 

As I crossed Second Street at Detroit last night about 8pm, during the Drillers game, I looked both directions. You can see almost the entire length of Second from this vantage point. The car count: one.

The current situation is fine for those of us who are comfortable with our ability to ride in traffic. This article breaks it down. Those who are 'interested but concerned' would be more likely to bike if there were better infrastructure.

http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?a=158497&c=44671

A much larger demographic, representing the vast majority of Portland's citizens, are the "interested but concerned." These residents are curious about bicycling. ...

But, they are afraid to ride. They don't like the cars speeding down their streets. They get nervous thinking about what would happen to them on a bicycle when a driver runs a red light, or guns their cars around them, or passes too closely and too fast. Very few of these people regularly ride bicycles—perhaps 2,000 who will ride through their neighborhoods to the local park or coffee shop, but who will not venture out onto the arterials to the major commercial and employment destinations they frequent. There are probably 300,000 in this group, representing 60% of the city's population. They would ride if they felt safer on the roadways—if cars were slower and less frequent, and if there were more quiet streets with few cars and paths without any cars at all.

[custosnox]

As I crossed Second Street at Detroit last night about 8pm, during the Drillers game, I looked both directions. You can see almost the entire length of Second from this vantage point. The car count: one.

The current situation is fine for those of us who are comfortable with our ability to ride in traffic. This article breaks it down. Those who are 'interested but concerned' would be more likely to bike if there were better infrastructure.

http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?a=158497&c=44671

In general I have no problem sharing the road with bicyclists.  However, I draw the line to them wearing santa suits while huffing it down highway 51.