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I gave these bike lanes the benefit of the doubt during their re-design, but finally got around to testing them out a little last Friday. I tried them both ways in the afternoon, then again near rush hour. They don't really work well at all -- I would much prefer "normal" bike lanes on the sides.

I agree with all the points above (especially the pedestrian issue -- it happened multiple times that groups of tourists were huddled on the islands while I theoretically had a green light to go plowing through them).

I noticed a couple other problems: the bike lanes being just wide enough for a car to pull halfway across Pennsylvania, get trapped there while the light turned red, and completely block the bike lanes. The connectivity somebody mentioned above -- how are you really meant to get into these lanes, and what are you supposed to do when you reach the end? The awkwardness and unsafe feeling of sitting in the middle of the street while cars (and buses) on your right have a green arrow to turn left *around* you.

But I think the main problem, and the reason I would never bike in these lanes regularly, is the difficulty of just *turning*. Say you want to turn left -- the signs say "turn like a pedestrian." Ok. So you wait for the "walk" sign and cross. Then what? Are you meant to ride the sidewalk? Wait there on the corner again for another light to change, to cross the street, then proceed on your way? The same problem comes up when try to get onto the lanes. There is too much switching modes, where a biker is supposed to act sometimes like a pedestrian and sometimes like a vehicle. It's confusing and not at all worth the effort.

Kudos for the experiment, though, DDOT.

by jeff gerhard on Jul 6, 2010 5:33 pm • link • report