The Dreaded Busy Two-lane Road

busy 2-lane road

This is another open thread, an opportunity for our brilliant readers to discuss problems and solutions.

Set-up

I avoid 2-lane roads with solid traffic like the plague. One reason I discuss multi-lane roads so much is that, I would prefer to use a 6-lane arterial to a lower-speed, 2-lane road with traffic like in the above photo.

There are quite a few roads like this around here. Unlike many other cities, the Orlando metro lacks both a consistent grid and wide lanes on 2-lane roads. The lack of a grid causes large volumes of traffic to be channeled onto these narrow roads. At peak traffic times, they are not at all fun places to ride a bicycle.

Some roads, like Bumby (shown in the photo) can be bypassed by parallel roads. Others, like Andrew’s nemesis — Hall Road — have no reasonable alternatives. Especially if you live on it. Some roads have very distinct platoons of traffic, so if you plan your entry you can ride alone between platoons for a good distance. But some roads just have a steady flow of traffic in both directions. I wrote about one of my few experiences with an at-capacity 2-lane road (Hoffner) last November.

Perspective

At some point that much traffic will get in the cyclist’s way, too. In reality, it does not matter if traffic cannot pass a cyclist when they will simply be queued up again behind motorists at the next traffic light. Motorists delay motorists. When it comes to urban and suburban traffic, cyclists do nothing more than temporarily redistribute delay, they have no effect on motorists’ travel time. So my questions below have nothing to do with motorist convenience, they have to do with cyclist comfort. Very few cyclists are comfortable with a long line of cars behind them, even when we know the people in those cars will be impeded by people in other cars all the way home. Of course, the incivility and lack of perspective of those people makes our discomfort even worse.

A few questions to ponder:

  1. How many of you have to deal with roads like this, and how do you handle it? What roads are they?
  2. What are the solutions that we should advocate for making these roads easier to deal with?
  3. Should the solutions be social or physical?
  4. Should such roads be 4-laned? What are the consequences of that?
  5. Should they be widened for cycling (WCLs or BLs)? What if there is no right-of-way? (An example of that would be Palmer Ave., the solution was sharrows.)
  6. Can these roads be bypassed with connector trails?

I suspect that each road has a different optimal solution.

If you would like to post google map links to your roads, please use http://tinyurl.com/ or html code.

20 replies
  1. Rantwick
    Rantwick says:

    Keri,

    I live smack in the middle of an old residential neighbourhood that has several of these. One of my favourite routes home from work uses lots of multiuse pathway that is usually pretty empty and fun to ride. The trouble is that the path spits me out onto one of the worst 2-lane situations in town.

    It is hard to describe and I’ve been planning to do some video of this anyway, so this post of yours is really well timed. When it’s ready I’ll post the link here for further discussion.

    I’m at a loss as to what might help, so I look forward to what ideas people may have.

  2. Herman
    Herman says:

    An initial curiosity, what is the average traffic speed on these roads?

    We have a few roads like this in the Dallas area, but not many. Most exist in the older parts of towns and cities; one of the busiest is currently undergoing alterations. A few examples:

    Mockingbird Lane – through the Park Cities
    (under reconstruction)

    Greenville Avenue – south of Mockingbird

    Lover’s Lane – through the Park Cities

    There are others; these are simply the roads with which I have the most experience. They can get a bit hairy during Rush Hour. However, the congestion usually keeps speed differentials lower than the posted limits (thus my query above).

    As a rule, I do not avoid them. There is usually sufficient space to allow motorists to overtake through lane sharing or gaps in oncoming traffic.

    I really do not share this concern for motorists stacking up behind me. It is not that I derive pleasure from the result, rather it cannot be avoided. I usually only consider side streets as alternatives if there are few stop signs. Given the distance I commute each day, every little delay adds to the overall time it takes me to get home. If the pile-up gets too bad, I will pull over and let the bulk pass. However, this is rare.

    How many of you have to deal with roads like this, and how do you handle it? What roads are they?

    Since I primarily travel arteries and collectors, this is not much of an issue for me – there is almost always an inside lane to allow passing. However, I travel Lover’s (see above) daily and really do not experience any problems. If lane width does not allow sharing, then the motorists will overtake when gaps appear in the oncoming flow.

    What are the solutions that we should advocate for making these roads easier to deal with?

    Reduced speeds and the use of traffic circles, instead of intersections. Oh, education, as well.

    Should the solutions be social or physical?

    They should, IMO, be a combination of both.
    (see previous response)

    Should such roads be 4-laned? What are the consequences of that?

    This is easier said than done. The rebuild of Mockingbird met with much opposition from the blue-bloods who live along this corridor. They did not want to give up any of their precious lawns to accommodate widening. Some even advocated for double-decking the roadway with traffic in one direction being routed underground. Yeah, ridiculous, but such is the mentality in this sprawl and property loving part of the country.

    Widening to four lanes is not the answer. Better is to simply widen the roads to thirty-six feet, reduce the speed limit and encourage lane sharing.

    Should they be widened for cycling (WCLs or BLs)? What if there is no right-of-way? (An example of that would be Palmer Ave., the solution was sharrows.)

    Bike lanes? Bite your tongue! 🙂

    I’m not sure one can term one sixteen foot lane in each direction as a WCL, but my answer to question four addressed this. Most municipalities have the right of Imminent Domain. Taking a few feet from property owners to facilitate traffic low ought to be justified.

    Using the photo accompanying this post as an example, if as little as two feet were added to the lanes in each direction, there would be little problem accommodating both cyclists and motorists.

    Can these roads be bypassed with connector trails?

    That depends. Again, seldom is there land available for such indulgences. Unless one is proposing the use of alleys or utility RoWs for this purpose, no one is going to sacrifice a portion of their backyard for a minority accommodation. I think this one is untenable.

    One comment I will add to the overall discussion pertains to trucks. Heavy vehicles like the dump truck present in the example image should be banned from congested, two-laned roads. Whether such a ban should exist all of the time or only morning, noon and evening is, of course, contingent upon the local situation. These extra wide vehicles are incapable of sharing the lane with others and contribute to back-ups – both by virtue of their size and their relatively lethargic acceleration and deceleration phases. Relegating them to arteries and collectors would improve flow on these smaller, two-laned roads in and of itself.

  3. Keri
    Keri says:

    Herman asked:
    “An initial curiosity, what is the average traffic speed on these roads?”

    There’s a large variance as I’m lumping busy two-lanes into a single category. Palmer Ave in Winter Park has a 25mph speed limit, 10-foot lanes and impatient, entitled cut-through motorists. (I’ve had them pass me into oncoming traffic when I was going almost the speed limit). Bumby has a 30mph speed limit, but it is frequently exceeded. Bumby also has a blind curve which is fun when the gap in oncoming traffic coincides with it.

    I don’t remember the speed limit on Hoffner, but I think traffic speed was in the 40mph range. Hall road has traffic speeds around 50, I think (Andrew can confirm). There are numerous other roads like this out in the burbs where traffic is constant enough for gaps to be few and speeds are high enough for the few gaps to be too short (I’ve seen some INSANE passing behavior on those roads).

  4. ChipSeal
    ChipSeal says:

    Cyclist comfort could be helped by eliminating on street parking and converting the roadway to a four-lane with narrow outside lanes. (Multiple Use Bike Lanes; MUBL) And lowering the speed limits.

    Changes like that will require societal changes before the infrastructure changes will be possible.

    I deal with narrow shoulderless but lightly traveled two lane roads. At my pace, I have four to five automobiles pass me either way per mile traveled.

    Speed limits are high though, set at 55 MPH to 65 MPH. I take the lane and ignore overtaking traffic. I will not allow any of their responsibility to overtake in a safe manner and with due care be shifted to me.

    We need to adjust our societies notions of operating in the public way. We have to dispel the idea that public roads are for automobiles alone. That damaging someone’s property with a motor vehicle is a shameful crime. To not expect to travel the entire trip at maximum speed. That there are worse things than traffic delays. That sharing the road means respecting the vehicles ROW in front of you, and a single line of vehicles in a lane, not side-by-side.

  5. andrewp
    andrewp says:

    Wow, a lot to ponder here …. I’ll try to answer Keri’s questions in order … but let me first say I agree that each road has it’s optimal solution ….

    1) How many of you have to deal with roads like this, and how do you handle it? What roads are they?

    You already know the road — Hall Rd. There is no other way to get to/from my house except by using this road. I handle by using the sidewalk (**). It’s too long for me to get anywhere on that road without dragging a large number of cars behind me that can’t pass due to heavy traffic coming the other way.

    2) What are the solutions that we should advocate for making these roads easier to deal with?

    I’m not sure there is a simple answer. Hall Rd. is a road begging to be 4-laned, but the neighborhood associations have squashed that idea for the last 10+ years. They (I think rightly) contend that 4-laning will simply allow more traffic, and faster traffic, which makes neighborhood ingress/egress much more difficult. It makes for more neighborhood noise. It will make for more accidents. And of course some houses will have to come down in order to widen the road, and others will lose front yards or have traffic roaring right past their houses (unless walls are erected). I think whatever solution, each group (City traffic engineers, neighborhoods, cyclists!) has to give a little ……

    3) Should the solutions be social or physical?

    Mostly physical. Social solutions tend to work on a broader scale, not on something as granular as the situation with Hall Rd.

    4) Should such roads be 4-laned? What are the consequences of that?

    Possible solutions: 4 lane, but make lanes 10′ and bring speeds down from 45 to 35 (trying to make it difficult to speed). Erect Sound Barrier walls. Signage that cyclists use the entire lane.

    5) Should they be widened for cycling (WCLs or BLs)? What if there is no right-of-way? (An example of that would be Palmer Ave., the solution was sharrows.)

    Not in this case. A 4 lane, narrow road, with lower speeds could accomodate both motorists and cyclists.

    6) Can these roads be bypassed with connector trails?

    I wish, but unless the County or City buys up houses, tears them down and creates a connection between my “broccoli” subdivisions, then no ……..

    **
    I’d like to take a moment to be a bit contrarian, because someone has to ….

    We talk about our rights to the road and how motorists will just need to learn to deal with us being there and get over it. At the same, Keri has been proposing a civility initiative between motorists and cyclists. But from the sounds of many here, it’s all a motorist problem. We need to be careful about balancing our “rights” with being civil.

    For example: Some of you have pointed out that you feel it’s OK to ride as slow as you might want. You have a RIGHT to do so, but doing that is not being civil. I’m not saying you have to sprint, but I’m also saying you shouldn’t lollygag along. If you are blocking a long string of cars with you slower pace, and you have an opportunity to pull over — that’s being civil. You didn’t have to, but doing so ……. is civil.

    So, I do see my riding on the sidewalk of Hall Rd. as being a civil gesture (perhaps lost on the motorists flying by, oh well). I can take the sidewalk, ride as slow as I need to (best for safety reasons anyway) and we both get where we need to go. Why is this a bad thing? (OK, grant you the point about enforcing notion that cyclists should always be on sidewalks. And yes, there are safety issues with sidewalks, but if you are aware of these issues, are you so unsafe that you should never use — I think not!).

    Let’s just be a bit careful about exercising our RIGHTS and balance with when we can be civil …

    OK, flame away …

  6. Herman
    Herman says:

    Keri said:
    “I’ve seen some INSANE passing behavior on those roads.”

    Insanity is configuring roads that narrow with speed limits above 35mph. Allowing that kind of speed is unconscionable. The speed limits on Mockingbird, Lover’s and Greenville are 35mph or less – though speeds up to 40mph are often witnessed.

    As I mentioned in my earlier comment, I experience few issues on these roads at the posted limits. Though I travel Greenville on an almost daily basis, it is only north of Mockingbird – where there are four to six lanes. (The link to Greenville above is way too far north. Scroll down south to below Mockingbird for a better example.)

    I agree with Reed in one respect, our society has a problematic belief that a speed limit is a legally defined prevailing speed. Motorists and cyclists do not seem to fathom that, unless a minimum speed is posted, there is no minimum speed. The only legal requirement is that slower traffic keep right so as to facilitate overtaking by faster traffic. This is definitely a cultural issue; perhaps a generational one as well.

    Not being a fan of legislating common sense and courtesy, I am not sure where the answer lies. Enforcement is the logical solution, but history has shown this to be folly. Reducing speed limits is a logical step, but irate responses will follow that, too.

  7. Herman
    Herman says:

    Andrew said:
    “I’d like to take a moment to be a bit contrarian…”

    Two comments from this aside.

    Civility is a matter of perspective and degree. I don’t know about Florida, though I suspect it to be similar, but cyclists make up a small fraction of the traffic motorists are likely to encounter in any given journey. If only one or two cyclists are encountered during a given commute, the burden of tolerance does lie with the motorist. One to a few modest accommodations of slower vehicles is not too much to ask.

    Now, if any given motorist were to encounter a cyclist every few blocks and doing so represented a significant delay in their progression, then your point would be valid. Otherwise, it is specious.

    Your comments regarding sidewalk riding are troublesome. I always have to temper my comments in this regard, because Texas is somewhat unique in two regards: its recognition of bicycles as vehicles and its definition of a sub-standard lane width as anything under fourteen feet. With those disclaimers in mind, a bicycle is a vehicle. Vehicles belong on the roadway. Sidewalks are a pedestrian facility. I do not accept, nor do I equate, sidewalk cycling with vehicular cycling – even in the interests of civility. Recreational cycling? Maybe. If you find that practice necessary for your own peace of mind, so be it. Do not, however, rationalize that belief as being reflective of civility.

    One final note. I agree with your assessment on the topic of leisurely cycling. Motorists are not permitted to drive as slow as they like – especially on two lane roads with little accommodation for passing. Doing so is considered an impediment. Cyclists like to highlight the fact that they are exempt from the impediment rule due to physical limitations. This is true insofar as physiology is concerned. However, we are responsible for traveling at a reasonable velocity. A lackadaisical pace is not vehicular. Those desiring to putter along should consider relocating to the sidewalk in the interests of, for lack of a better word, civility. Otherwise, if I am pedaling along at a reasonable pace and making every effort to accommodate the needs of other road users, then they can endure a momentary delay in their forward progress.

  8. Kevin Love
    Kevin Love says:

    Keri asked:

    “1.How many of you have to deal with roads like this, and how do you handle it? What roads are they?”

    Kevin’s answer:

    Sometimes. I ride 1.2 km to work through a park and a bike lane. Ironically enough, the worst part of the commute is through the park because of dodging pedestrian traffic which is also going to work. I’m able to use cycle infrastructure for about 50% of non-work travel. Downtown Toronto has very few four-lane roads, so about 50% of the time I’m on two-lane roads with very congested traffic.

    “… how do you handle it?”

    As a cyclist, I’m much faster than the car traffic. I always take the lane, frequently as part of a platoon of bicycles that accumulates in front of cars at red lights. This can be a problem, because if there are too many bikes waiting for the light to change, we can start to obstruct the pedestrian crosswalk. This is one reason why the City is starting to install bike boxes – it gives us a place to wait for the light to change without being in the way of peds.

    One thing that scares the %$^@#!! out of me is those situations where I have to pass the 20-40 cars piled up at traffic signals where I’m in the overlapping door zones of passenger-side doors of cars in traffic and driver-side doors of parked cars. The cars have to be passed, or else cyclists are going to be reduced to the 5 km/hr average speed of car drivers. The only question is whether to pass on the left or the right. I’ll usually go left because of dooring fears.

    This is probably the most dangerous part of my travels. I always go slow with a piercing whistle in my mouth. The City is going to (eventually) install properly protected bike lanes in these areas to get us out of the door zone. And so we can ride at a decent speed.

    “2.What are the solutions that we should advocate for making these roads easier to deal with?”

    Bike boxes so cyclists (particularly left-turning ones) are not obstructing pedestrians and protected cycle lanes to enable us to pass the cars NOT in a door zone.

    “3.Should the solutions be social or physical?”

    Both. I like the Yehuda Moon T-shirt slogan “First Cigarettes, Next Cars.” We’ve definitely got to attach a stronger social stigma to bad conduct like driving cars. Physical solutions like protected bike lanes to keep us out of the door zone and bike boxes with adequate law enforcement to keep cars out is also needed. See:

    http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2009-06-30

    “4.Should such roads be 4-laned?”

    NO! NO! NO!

    “What are the consequences of that?”

    Car roads breed cars. The consequences would be more cars.

    5.Should they be widened for cycling (WCLs or BLs)?

    NO! NO! NO! No matter how wide the road is, car drivers will still stop before traffic signals far enough to the right to put passing cyclists in the door zone. I don’t want to ever have to pass 20-40 cars in the door zone.

    And I don’t want cars passing me. That’s why I take the lane. If there isn’t a properly protected cycle lane, I far prefer narrow traffic lanes to wide ones. Narrow lanes make it very clear that I’m taking the lane and cars are not passing.

  9. JohnB
    JohnB says:

    Posting initially without reading everyone else’s responses, because I don’t have time right now, but I already have Google Maps open to the map I want to use and don’t want to look it up again.

    (I hope this link comes out okay, I’m not sure how to embed a link in these comments, so I’m just going to try normal HTML.)

    My normal commuting includes this road in South Portland, Maine. As you can see, it’s two narrow lanes, and also currently has many patches of very poor pavement, much of it right about 1/3 way into the lane where I might otherwise want to ride. Further, being semi-rural, the posted speed is 35 (I think), but cars tend to go 45-50.

    This picture does not show much traffic, but there is often quite a bit at “rush half hour”. (Maine!;-)) I know I have the legal right to take the middle of the road, but I confess I still have trouble working myself up to it on this road with lots of other traffic on it. I have found an “imaginary line” about 1.5′ to 2′ from the edge where the pavement is not too bad for most of the length, so I tend to ride there, rather than on the left of the bad parts, which would put me into the middle or even left portion of the lane. Not ideal, I know, but thankfully I seem to live in an area where gutter bunnies are not treated too harshly. Most motorists are still willing to straddle or cross the double yellow to pass me with plenty of room, if there is no oncoming traffic. The only issue is when there is oncoming traffic, and even then many do hang back, but not all.

    Another nice thing is there is a private road through a golf course that I can take to cut a corner and avoid part of this stretch. That’s the outlet of it in this picture. That road has a gate in the middle to prevent through traffic, but also has a golf cart sidepath I can hop on temporarily to avoid the gate, so it works well for me. And the golf course employees see me all the time, so they don’t seem to mind my using it.

    Thanks partially to this site and Keri, I have come to prefer multi-laned roads, where I am becoming more and more confident taking up the middle of the lane, because I know there is another lane for faster traffic to use for passing. Some of my commute is like that too.

    I’ve seen another bike commuter off and on for years on this road, who for the entire time I’ve seen him is always riding slowly and meekly in the dirt shoulder, without a helmet. Most others are usually on the pavement but still hug the line closer than I do.

    I’ve asked the town about a paved shoulder, and their current answer is they had planned to but cannot currently afford it. They do at least hope to resurface what they have sometime this summer, which will at least help.

  10. Kevin Love
    Kevin Love says:

    Herman wrote:

    “Cyclists like to highlight the fact that they are exempt from the impediment rule due to physical limitations. This is true insofar as physiology is concerned. However, we are responsible for traveling at a reasonable velocity. A lackadaisical pace is not vehicular…”

    Kevin’s comment:

    Some people, like young children or the elderly, are only capable of travelling at a “lackadasical pace.” In terms of civility, it is my opinion that driving a car on a public road is a profoundly discourteous activity.

  11. Laura
    Laura says:

    1. How many of you have to deal with roads like this, and how do you handle it? What roads are they?
    Wymore Road from Fairbanks to 436 http://tinyurl.com/9fzay Because I rode this stretch mostly during peak hour traffic was fairly slow. I probably ride closer to the edge than many people would feel comfortable but far enough off the white line that cars had to slow down before passing. At Kennedy, I’d often cue up with traffic and take the whole lane. I wouldn’t cue jump cars that had already passed me, but as cars slowed to my speed I’d slide over to the middle taking full use of the lane.

    2. What are the solutions that we should advocate for making these roads easier to deal with?

    Because this facility parallels I-4 there are few cross streets or driveway cuts. A multi-use trail might be appropriate, the road doesn’t need to be widened as I doubt there are enough trips on it to justify 4-laning but there’s likely room enough for bike lanes.
    3. Should the solutions be social or physical?
    It may not be the best example b/c I don’t find the drivers to be all that aggressive/hostile. I was perfectly comfortable riding that section but others may not. I think physical solutions would make it more bike-friendly.

    4. Should such roads be 4-laned? What are the consequences of that?

    It really depends on the ROW available and the number of trips existing and projected on the roadway. What about improving transit service and connectivity? Are there subdivisions that could be connected somehow so that all trips don’t have to spill onto the one collector? Is that a solution for Hall Road?

    Retrofitting is a bitch so I doubt connecting adjacent subdivisions to improve connectivity could realistically happen, but it’s possible in new developments.

    5. Should they be widened for cycling (WCLs or BLs)? What if there is no right-of-way? (An example of that would be Palmer Ave., the solution was sharrows.)

    We’ll never get roads widened to benefit cyclists or ROW purchased to build sidewalks to improve things for peds. Many of these 2-laners don’t have sidewalks either.

    One consequence of 4-laning is that higher overall speed within the corridor will go up.

    6. Can these roads be bypassed with connector trails?
    In some cases possibly, really depends on what’s available in terms of ROW – are there easements or other public lands that can accommodate a trail?

    As for my contrarian viewpoint, I think in some of these areas a bike lane could really improve conditions, and designed properly they could work extremely well. The ROW may already exist to add enough room for bike lanes but not enough for two (and in reality, often three) more travel lanes. I think on roads without curb and gutter like in some of the older sections of Orlando (Lake Margaret, Fern Creek, Primrose, Dixie Belle etc), one could reconstruct the roadway by adding bike lanes and curb and gutter. The travel lanes could be 11′ wide and the bike lane 5′ wide, more than likely we’re only talking about adding 4′ of pavement rather than 20′.

    I’d rather bike lanes be a min. 5′ wide excluding the gutter pan. For clarity’s sake, I’m not talking high speed rural roads, but lower speed 25-35 mph two-lane roads like we have all over Orlando.

  12. Keri
    Keri says:

    Herman beat me to Andrew’s comments on civility and leisurely cycling and responded almost identically to what I was thinking.

    I agree 100% about leisurely cycling on the road. I see the sidewalk riders who coast along with an occasional pedal stroke and I think they should stay on the sidewalk. OTOH, you don’t have to ride at vomit pace just because you’re taking the lane.

    I won’t criticize Andrew for choosing the sidewalk. I don’t have to ride his mile. I have seen Hall road at rush hour and I would not want to ride on it every day. But no motorists looks at him on the sidewalk and thinks, “look at that nice guy riding there instead of here. Isn’t he being gracious.” They probably don’t even see him there. They would, however, notice him rightfully and legally driving in the lane and say, “why isn’t that asshole on the sidewalk where he belongs?”

    Based on the fact that it takes several traffic light cycles to pass either end of Hall Rd., a cyclist actually would not be creating a significant delay for them by riding in the lane. It would just be uncomfortable for the cyclist. We have very strong social taboos about being slow and getting in the way, regardless of whether not it actually makes a difference.

    So, frame it as personal comfort, but not civility. It’s not civility to do what every motorist expects a cyclist to do—whether that’s riding on the sidewalk or hugging the edge-line. In social terms, it is compliance or capitulation, not courtesy or civility.

  13. Ed W
    Ed W says:

    Two things. First, that photo presents a problem for some cyclists. The lane appears to be wide enough for a ‘courteous’ rider to hug the fog lane while motor vehicles zoom by without reducing speed or crossing the center line. An ‘arrogant’ cyclist would move much further to the left causing motorists to slow down and wait until it was safe to pass. What a concept.

    Second, there’s no minimum speed for vehicular cycling. I’ve seen comments elsewhere saying “You can’t ride ABC Road unless you can do XX miles per hour!” From a motorist’s point of view, a cyclist doing 16 mph is hardly different from one doing 10mph. His relative speed difference and resulting reaction times are nearly the same.

  14. Keri
    Keri says:

    Laura, With the debris and need for street cleaning and all, wouldn’t it be easier just to make a 15ft lane with no stripe?

    I commuted on Wymore for years. I would have liked a little more pavement width there, too.

  15. ChipSeal
    ChipSeal says:

    Andrewp said in part:
    OK, flame away…

    One of the things that makes CommuteOrlando such a superior blog is the quality and civility of those who comment here. (Of course, it is surpassed by great content.)

    I am grateful to all of you for showing restraint on subjects so filled with emotion and passion.

    It is good company to counted among!

  16. Rodney
    Rodney says:

    Waiting for the road construction to be completed for the section of S. Conway to SR528, just south of Hoeffner.

    Painstakingly having to take to the sidewalk for the remaining duration until such time permits controlling the lane again. Unfortunately, this section of my commute is sidewalk both ways…..for now 🙁

  17. Craig
    Craig says:

    Wymore is horrible. It is the most direct road for my route. I commute from Maitland Blvd & Eden Park Rd to downtown Orlando every day, and the only part that is bad is Wymore. I actually end up most of the time going a mile out of my way (over to Denning), just to avoid Wymore. Did I mention I don’t like Wymore? I was a little late today and yesterday, so I ended up taking Wymore, almost got hit twice in two days.

    I would love it if they added some bike lanes there.

    • Keri
      Keri says:

      or at least shareable-width lanes (since those wouldn’t collect debris like bike lanes do). More space would be nice, for sure.

      I use Denning to avoid Wymore whenever possible also.

  18. Columbusite
    Columbusite says:

    Yes! I was wondering when you were going to broach this topic. Before I read it, I just want to say that this is the one place I am not comfortable riding. One experience that did it for me was a fork in an eastbound road of a familiar urban neighborhood.

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=N+High+and+Tibet+Columbus&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=N+High+St+%26+Tibet+Rd,+Columbus,+Franklin,+Ohio+43202&gl=us&ei=Mdy8S9SZM8SgnQfWrrWqCA&ved=0CAgQ8gEwAA&t=h&z=16

    I usually went on the one that veers slightly south (Tibet) to the one that goes north (E Weber). The one on the south is posted 25 MPH, has an incline, very low traffic, some speed humps and is only wide enough for one vehicle in either direction: so narrow that a car and bike could not pass comfortably here. I took the other route one time and it’s posted 35 MPH, has a higher incline, more impatient traffic, one lane in each direction and throw in some rather blind curves due to the nearby ravine to encourage unsafe passing by pissed motorists.

    Like Keri, I just can’t figure out a safe way to ride on these (I was hoping to see a solution). The answers to the questions are going to vary to those of locals in Orlando because I’m from a rather flat city with a connected urban core based on a square street grid with sprawl surrounding that and not nearly as many barriers like lakes, just the usual rivers and highway interchanges.

    1. Really the only time I come across streets with one-lane in each direction are shorter stretches where on-street parking is available and takes up the right hand lane. The entrance to the Short North neighborhood from Downtown is where there are a handful of blocks where this is the case before it becomes two lanes northbound once again. It’s also slowed by the amount of traffic and high number of traffic signals.

    With all of the stop-and-go traffic cars are traveling at the same speed as me, so that pretty much answers 2 and 3. The issue would be implementing something similar in a sprawling area where you don’t have numerous pedestrians, cyclists, and buses in addition to a high amount of drivers to calm traffic speeds. The posted speed limit here is 30MPH, but you’ll have a hard time reaching that speed, let alone maintain it. It doesn’t hurt that the highway bridge between the two neighborhoods was capped with retail, wide sidewalks and on street parking to slow traffic.

    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=N+High+and+Goodale+Columbus&sll=39.983467,-82.997117&sspn=0.01141,0.037851&gl=us&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=N+High+St+%26+W+Goodale+St,+Columbus,+Franklin,+Ohio+43215&ll=39.976216,-83.001924&spn=0.005706,0.018926&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=39.973828,-83.002871&panoid=NUi-wMAChAVtEp42gzhP7A&cbp=12,354.05,,0,-4.72

    Still, going southbound where it’s only one lane for a much longer stretch is where I just so happen to get aggression from motorists. This is where creative lines like “Get off the road!” and “Get the f#&k on the sidewalk!” get tossed at me and even then 99.99% of motorists just pass and leave me alone. New “Share the Road” signs have been put up (not as good as “Bike Use Full Lane: Change Lanes To Pass”) and soon sharrows will be painted on these lanes. So far I’ve seen less negativity from motorists, but I’m not sure if it’s due to the signs.

    It sounds like multi-lane arterials are best, but over here where they are adding numerous lanes to these roads they’re also adding on bike lanes as though the new amount of lanes wouldn’t accommodate cars and bikes, so that’s a problem with re-designed two-lane arterials since there’s still a “car is king” mentality going into solutions for making such roads multi-modal. And of course, pedestrians get to traverse more than twice as much road as before and there will likely be very long walks between crosswalks at sparsely distributed traffic signals. No easy answers here.

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