The Observation Deck

I just read on cleveland.com that Lakewood is finally going to repave and reconfigure Madison Avenue. And that it will include segregated bike lanes.

As proposed, this is probably the worst outcome that cyclists could possibly anticipate. The bike lanes are proposed right into the door zones of parked cars, and where delivery vehicle will often be parked. I just hate the depiction on cleveland.com, that shows no parked cars or delivery vehicles. Completely misleading, potentially fraudulent and I think actionable by anyone who is fooled....

See: http://www.cleveland.com/lakewood/index ... esurf.html

How many less-knowledgeable cyclists have to die by dooring before the “advocates” finally figure it out? Why do we have to sacrifice cyclist safety in order to be "cool?" BikeOrlando has said of door zone lanes that experienced cyclists won’t use them and inexperienced cyclists don’t understand the dangers….

Some years ago Ohio determined that door zone bike lanes are not particularly safe, and decided to permit cyclists to use the motorist lane instead. When was the last time you checked your side view mirror for cyclists after parallel parking your car?

The CURRENT configuration is just perfect for cyclists. The right lane (both directions) is somewhat constricted, so many motorists use the left lane exclusively. That leaves cyclists safer in the right lane and still able to avoid parked cars and delivery vehicles. There is no better east-west route through Lakewood than Madison. Detroit is a mess and Lake and Clifton are battlezones especially during rush.

Motorist and cyclist education is FAR preferable....

Why does Madison need a center turn lane? How does a cyclist make left turn from a door zone bike lane? Are you aware that by law, motorists must first enter the bike lane before turning right?

I have written about it all here before, and maybe JOB can pull up my old posts and link them. But I’m telling you that the proposed configuration, to the extent that it is supposed to benefit cyclists, is nothing short of a disaster. There is plenty of evidence of the danger of door zone bike lanes. I do hope that Lakewood cyclists and city lawyers don’t find out the hard way….

Tim, safety studies and the past decade show something very different.

First, the reconfiguration to center-turning-lane was always part of this re-surfacing project and has nothing to do with the addition of bike lanes. That was the plan from the beginning. Bike Lakewood, myself, and hundreds of Lakewood Residents and Madison business owners signed a petition (~300 total, if I remember right) and attended council meetings to get these bike lanes considered.

Second, the thought that bike lanes next to parked cars increases the risk to people on bikes isn't borne out by empirical evidence. Studies have found that bike lanes, sharrows, or nothing at all influence how far away from parked cars people on bikes ride by a matter of inches. So risk of 'dooring' is present in all road configurations and people on bikes should remain vigilant and aware and people parking cars should understand that it is their responsibility (legally) to not open their door into a travelling person on a bike or person in a car.

Studies have also been consistently reporting that the safest place for a person on a bike is in bike-specific lanes. Protected lanes / paths first, then bike lanes then normal roads. This includes bike lanes next to parked cars.


The upcoming bike-lane layout on Madison is far from perfect. While the bike lanes may encourage a few more people to travel by bicycle, they are not physically separated from traffic and so won't really work for people that aren't already relatively comfortable riding in traffic. This has been the problem with bike advocacy since the 70's in the US - the notion that everyone should get comfortable with riding a bike like they are pretending to be a car. It just doesn't work for many people which is why bicycle traffic share has hovered around 1% in most cities. With the increasing number of bike lanes, and especially protected bike lanes in cities like Minneapolis, Madison, Seattle, New York, Boston, Chicago, Austin, and many others that number is increasing to 6-8%.

If we want to make Lakewood a place where all people, not just the strong and confident, can safely ride a bike to parks, libraries, stores and everywhere else what we need is a complete network of safe, high quality bike infrastructure. Bike Lakewood did a survey last year and will be releasing a report shortly. Our survey respondents weighed in on what they would like to see in the future and unsurprisingly it matches what has already been shown to work in America's truly bike friendly cities. Safe, accessible infrastructure that works for everyone, age 8 to 80.

Here are some great resources:

People for Bikes safety statistics:
http://www.peopleforbikes.org/statistics/category/safety-statistics

People for Bikes facilities statistics:
http://www.peopleforbikes.org/statistics/category/facilities-statistics

(example)--Streets with protected bike lanes saw 28 percent fewer injuries per mile than comparable streets with no bike infrastructure. People were also 2.5 times more likely to bike on the protected lanes than in general travel lanes.
Lusk, A., et al., 2010 - Risk of injury for bicycling on cycle tracks versus in the street, Injury Prevention, December 1, 2010

A review of 23 studies on bicycling injuries found that bike facilities (e.g. off-road paths, on-road marked bike lanes) are where bicyclists are safest.
http://www.ehjournal.net/content/8/1/47

Major streets without bike facilities are where the most bike crashes happen, followed by minor streets without facilities, bike paths, and then bike lanes.
http://pubsindex.trb.org/document/view/default.asp?lbid=578182

On Columbus Ave , bike lanes reduced crashes 34%, and 73% of residents said it improved the street.
http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/10/12/bike-lane-made-columbus-avenue-safer-and-uws-residents-noticed/

In New York, a new pedestrian plaza and bike lanes resulted in a 49% reduction in injuries for all road users
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/plazas_weet_for_city_biz_mJqQxwLn4BnFAxB0VGhNNO

The installation of hundreds of miles of new bike lanes in New York City did not lead to an increase in the number of bike crashes, despite that the number of cyclists more than doubled.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22095351


Economic Benefits of Bike Lanes to Local Businesses
http://bikeleague.org/sites/default/files/Bicycling_and_the_Economy-Econ_Impact_Studies_web.pdf

Ben my point is really simple. Madison, throughout almost all of its length, is pretty unique. Madison now has two vehicle lanes in each direction. But Madison’s LEFT lane (both east and westbound) is preferred by many motorists, because the right lane is actually narrower when you consider that motorists want an extra foot or two of separation from parked cars. Don’t believe me? Go spend some time on Madison and watch which lane the motorists use. I have. Very many use the left lane exclusively, especially larger vehicles. As it stands right now, Madison’s right lane is as good of a shared urban roadway as can be. Lesser used by motorists and wide/safe for cyclists.

So why mess it up? Why encourage cyclists in a relatively safe and full right lane to instead ride in a door zone? Why make cyclists traverse TWO lanes to make a left turn. Why make motorists merge into a bike lane before a right turn? Why presume that all motorists will look into their driver’s side mirror before opening the door? Why pay for all the additional thermoplastic that will have to be maintained, expensively? Why hide cyclists right next to parked cars from the view of motorists attempting to enter or cross Madison from an intersection or driveway? Why quibble about a three-foot rule when the whole left lane is available to and desired by motorists? Why does Madison need a center turn lane? I suspect that the center turn lane resulted from the desire for door zone bike lanes so Lakewood could be “so cool.” Why is “cool” better than safe? No clear need for a center turn lane has been offered that I know of. Why not just make Lakewood as safe as possible for cyclists regardless of the fanfare? Isn’t that better in the long run?

After the resurfacing, configure Madison the way it is now. Or maybe even provide the left lane just a couple more inches of width at the expense of the right lane. Put a few sharrows down in the middle of the right lane (both ways) and you have as good of a sharable roadway as can be had, in Lakewood or anywhere (one sharrow every other block right after the intersection please, that is all that is needed. Not like what happened on Detroit, whose sharrows are somewhat overused and often misplaced).

I’ve biked Madison a hundred times. It’s an easy and interesting place to ride. Franklin/Hilliard has similar potential as an east/west route. Put a bike lane there if you insist on a bike lane. At least there are no parked cars, and it affords access to LHS and downtown.

Ben there are many people and organizations who think that bike lanes are a bad idea. Check the BikeOrlando site, where they note that experienced cyclists won’t use such lanes, and novice cyclists don’t realize that bike lanes are not particularly safe especially for novices, and especially right next to parked cars. As for studies, for every one you can find extolling bike lanes, I’ll find you an article about someone who got killed in one, especially in door zones.

Bottom line. Madison, because of its current unique peculiarities, is already very well situated for shared use. By accident, but so what. If you want to encourage safe cycling on Madison, smooth pavement is great but otherwise LEAVE IT BE.

Well it appears that cooler/smarter heads have prevailed and that there will be no dedicated door-zone bike lanes on Madison. Anyone who looks at the recently-completed west end of Madison can see that there simply is no room for dedicated bike lanes, especially in each direction located in the dangerous door zone of parked cars.

Anyone with a tape measure and basic knowledge would have known that Madison cannot support two traffic lanes, a center turn lane, two 5’ bike lanes and parking on both sides. I’m glad to see that the City came to the same conclusion.

Which is not to say that door zone bike lanes are safe in any circumstances. They are not. Door zone bike lanes are a bad idea in all instances....

I think they really need to either post signs or mark lanes. Every time I drive on the updated section of Madison, there are people who insist that there are still two lanes. I have been almost sideswiped twice since last week. The City is going to need to do something. It is absolutely crazy!

I think lane markings and final touches are waiting until the project is completed. But why am I posting this and not someone from City Hall?