Charlotte Bike Lanes

[InitialD]

I really try hard to follow all the traffic laws, and it is very frustrating when other cyclists don't, because it only helps to confuse drivers as to what the rules are. If there is street that turns one way in the opposite direction I'm going, I try to get off and just walk my bike on the sidewalk. Occasionally I'll ride on the side walk, usually in situations where I'm going very slowly uphill, so I'm really not much faster than a person walking and traffic is very much faster than me. I think a lot of drivers are surprised uptown when the bicycles are faster than they are, or at least keeping up with traffic. You don't see that parity in many parts of the city. Nothing feels better than when there is a car in the lane next to yours at a stop light and you beat them at the green-light drag race.

[Spartan]

I have to respect you for that, InitialD, because I won't do it. I will just ride my bike on the sidewalk on one-way streets until I get to a cross street that allows me to get back on the road, keeping in mind that I do not go upstream on one-way streets once I am in traffic. Sidewalks are usually the last resort for me, but I have no problem with using them in a pinch.

I do make it a point not to blow lights too often and to stop at stopbars, but I have no quams with passing through traffic jams. Some days it can be particularly bad on S Church Street, MLK, Brevard, and S Tryon. IMO one of the benefits of my bike is the ability to bypass all of that crap. Thats the main reason I bike instead of drive to work. I know that its blatant hypocrisy to do that while stating that bikes have to obey traffic laws, but if biking cannot be more convenient that driving in SOME ways, then it looses a lot of luster to me, and I may as well drive to work. (I consider the health and environmental benefits of cycling to be secondary to being a convenient and comfortable way to travel- that's just me though.)

[tozmervo]

In what could be read as a sign of the times, Bike Source @ Park Rd Shopping Center is in the process of doubling their store's size (they took over a space next to them). Fortunately they have good access to the Little Sugar Creek greenway, 'cause I sure as heck won't be using Park Road to get there.

[tozmervo]

So this is tangentially related to the topic, but after tailgating on Saturday I was faced with an interesting question: are there any laws on the books about drinking and biking?

Also, I discovered the hard way that there are no handicap sidewalk curb cuts at the intersection of Princeton and Park. Once again, Park proves worthy of "most terrifying to bike on"

[49er]

Some new bike lanes in the burbs'...Contractors have just striped about a mile of bike lanes on Weddington Rd on the Matthews/Charlotte border as part of a widening and improvement project. They begin (or end) at the back entrance to Providence Plantation near the siskey y and continue inbound until the intersection with south trade st in Matthews. once these lanes are connected to the existing ones on fullwood lane up to hwy 51, there will be a solid 3 or so miles of bike lanes in this area in the near future.

[dubone]

You can get a DUI on a bike. Apparently, you can even get a DUI while walking a bike or scooter (Scrubs had an episode on this one once). Personally, I think those rules are a bit extreme, as you can't hurt anyone else seriously on a bike or walking other than yourself.

It proves the power of MADD.

[Bikeguy]

Also, I discovered the hard way that there are no handicap sidewalk curb cuts at the intersection of Princeton and Park. Once again, Park proves worthy of "most terrifying to bike on"

[dubone]

Little Sugar Creek Greenway is fairly well in the Park Rd corridor, so I guess that gets most of the focus for bike improvements in that area. But they should certainly fix the handicap ramp to the sidewalk in that area you mentioned. Something tells me that the right people at CDOT now magically know.

[tozmervo]

Don't get me wrong, I try to avoid Park Road south of Sunset like a plague. Unfortunately, because none of the neighborhood roads connect straight across for a lengthy stretch (Sunset, Poindexter, Princeton, Marsh, etc are all three-way intersections), it means I have to zig-zag along it to get from LSC Greenway into Sedgefield. There are surprisingly few options, even accounting for neighborhood roads, for getting from where I live to the greenway.

[InitialD]

Survey for Selwyn Avenue street conversion and bike lane.

[tozmervo]

Has anyone else noticed new signs for numbered Charlotte bike routes popping up everywhere? I can't find anything online about it. I've seen signs for routes "1" and "3" so far.

[Spartan]

That's because there aren't any others yet. You'll find #10 going up soon, I think, in the northwestern portion of town.

#1 is the "original" bike route through Dilworth and Myers Park. The new signs are much easier for the average cyclist to follow.

If you look at the Charlotte Bicycle Plan, you can see where the rest are going to go (though it does not indicate which numbers go where).