Bicycle Austin forum

I don't usually bike on Stassney Ln., but have a few times in the relatively distance path.  So I have refrained from doing the survey.

I am a BikeAustin member (I think, since there is no staff to send out dues renewal, it may well be that might membership has expired).  In any case, if the protected lanes are anything like the dangerous two way bike lanes in Barton Hills and Zilker and the in process 2 way bike lanes on Shoal Creek, I would definitely not support them.  I think BikeAustin would be better served trying to educate the public about the limited utility of protected bike lanes (specifically that most accidents, car-car, car-bike, car-pedestrian, etc.) happen at intersections, including driveways and entrances to parking lots and businesses, where protected bike lanes are impossible.  Two way bike lanes rely on drivers doing something new (looking for bikes in a direction where they have not had to look for traffic before).  This is a recipe for failure.  A fundamental design guideline for bicycle facilities is to not require drivers to do anything different. 

While I don't know much about Stassney Lane, Barton Hills Drive, Bluebonnet (in Zilker) and Shoal Creek Blvd. were already decent places fairly safe places to ride.   Why are we spending lots of the limited amount of money for bike infrastructure on these roads?  We should be expending places that are safe for cyclists, for instance providing better way to cross major highways (I-35, 183, Mopac, etc.). 

Art

I have to agree with Jack.  Most of my commute rides are fairly uneventful.  I can't recall the last time I was yelled at while commuting (or otherwise riding).  My ride to work now -- southbound along the new bike path, really a wide sidewalk along Mopac to the new ped/bike bridge -- is a bit stressful as I am going against traffic.  There are a number of driveways and a few streets and drivers are not looking my direction usually.  In my mind, this is much more a function of poor infrastructure than mad drivers.  It is far less stressful coming home when I take the road anyway (also it is mostly downhill on the way home :-).  My most common compliant about drivers is when I come to a 4-way stop and they were clearly there first and then wave me through.  If they had just gone through as they should have, it would have been better for both of us.

I have walked (looking to see if it was a possibility) from Mesa Village Dr. to Gaines Ct.  Not great, but probably doable on a bike when it is dry as you suggested.  However, I have ridden by the entrance to Gaines Ranch (or whatever that community is).  It is gated, and I could not see how to enter it.  Do you wait until a car comes out?  or is there another secret?

Staggerbrush is on the east side of 290, so I don't see how that helps.  I agree about the shoulder on the frontage road, although I believe that is either the state or county that "own" that piece of road, not the city.

Thanks for the suggestions.

No doubt this incident refers to my friend Tom.  He passed away yesterday.  The accident was on April 1.

An interesting article (well actually a blog post) from the New York Times on bicycle safety:  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/2 … rd-to-say/.  It is mostly about crashes not involving cars.

To be clear, I am not against the cycle tracks per se.  I believe that they would have been much more useful on a busy street, say S. Lamar.  There is limited money to pay for these things (or any transportation for that matter) and I do not believe the best use of the limited money was putting them on Bluebonnet.  Second the two way cycle track is dangerous (as you yourself have said).  While I believe we could and should do a significant amount of education of both people driving cars and people riding bikes on how to travel safely, I do not believe adding new rules for drivers (you have to look for traffic in both directions before turning on/off Bluebonnet, when you never had to before) is a good idea.  If they had cycle tracks on both sides of Bluebonnet that would have been much better for cyclists, although I think that it would have removed all the on street parking which presumably is why it was not done.

I am sure lots of people use the cycle tracks on Bluebonnet, lots of people rode on Bluebonnet before there were cycle tracks.  Even if there are more people riding on Bluebonnet before (I doubt that there are any reliable numbers one way or another), it does not mean it was a good idea.

For what it is worth, I doubt many kids use the cycle tracks to get to Barton Hills elementary.  Bluebonnet is (as far as I know anyway) in the Zilker attendance zone and kids going to Barton Hills would not be going through there.

Art