One of the bloggers over at M-M-M-My Pomona Mentioned the lack of a bike lane in Pomona.
This is something I've been thinking about for a while, and I WISH WE HAD ONE! I ride my bike to school/work a couple times a week and that's about 6 miles of riding each way. I generally take Garey Ave. from near the DMV up to Holt and go west on holt until I get to campus. Even my campus doesn't have a bike lane and that's about another mile just riding on campus.
there are some parts of the city that are pretty scary. especially where there is street parking. I'll sometimes ride on the sidewalk, but with the sidewalks in such poor condition in some areas and how narrow it can get in some spots along with pedestrians it's not always the best option. Where Holt turns into Valley, it's the worst. Cars whizz by at lightning speed and there is NO sidewalk.Thankfully most drivers in Pomona are very courteous when I ride.
I've noticed that there is plenty of room for bike lanes on almost all the streets I ride on, even if it is on the street side of the street parking. AT least a demarcation would help. Now I DRIVE TOO! So I know what it feels like to approach a bicyclist when I'm driving. As drivers we often unnecessarily make extra room for the bicyclist, some people even swerve into another lane a bit to give the rider more room. But with clearly defined lines that help us determine that the bike rider is in another lane and we are NOT in that lane would up us avoid swerving to avoid a rider. Those lines help us in determining our position in the road and help us to avoid hitting riders. And as a rider it helps us know how much room we have to deviate from our riding path and it helps give us confidence that cars are able to know where we are LONG before they even see us.
Come on Pomona. We used to be the city of firsts, must we become the city of lasts? Let's get some paint and make a BICYCLE LANE, WE HAVE THE SPACE, ALL WE NEED IS THE PAINT!
Friday, September 5, 2008
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3 comments:
Thanks for writing about bike lanes.
Just some of experiences:
I'm not aware of Pomona's code on bikes riding on sidewalks. Claremont PD specifically states not to do it. For children, I can see why a parent might encourage it, particularly in areas where the prevailing street speed is excessive or you have a limited shoulder. The downside is that children will enter and leave sidewalks without appreciating the presence of cars. Just relying on the anecdotal, I think we'll find children are hit when they enter streets from driveways and sidewalks. Getting bike lanes and cars to slow down could help get more of us on the street. I'm guessing you know first hand how the scare factor increases as cars go by faster.
I'd probably say bike lanes are even more important for children, since most adults can ride straight lines. Children (at least mine) tend to drift and need the demarcations to keep them from entering the vehicular lane.
Thanks again for writing about bike lanes. I took a picture of one near your campus. It's going to be a future post. I'm just waiting to hear back from the city on a project that apparently received funding from the "Safe routes to school program". You can look up the proposal at the organization's website under 2007-8 approved projects. Basically, they want to convert a 4 lane road into a 2 lane with bike lane. I think it's Hamilton, which you might be in a position to use.
Thanks again for riding and writing about it. I'll let you know if I hear anything pertinent on the subject.
Sorry for the length.
I need to proofread when I'm in a hurry.
Here's the link:
http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/LocalPrograms/saferoutes/sr2s.htm
Wow, thanks Ed. I had no idea that project was approved. I'll definitely be taking that route once it opens. thanks again!
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