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Anybody familiar enough with the above area bike-wise?
I've never biked the area. I've been invited to a house on Travis County Circle (during the day).
I bike all over North of the river. I intend to take the #3 bus to West Gate Mall and bike from there.
Neither the Austin Bike map nor Rand McNally maps indicate connections between Jones Rd and Staggerbrush, nor between Staggerbrush and Boston Lane, nor between Boston Ln and Travis County Circle.
However, I have no trouble with "unofficial" connections. But I am seeking assurances that getting to Travis County Circle by bike isn't "MADNESS!".
Suggestions from anyone?
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SW Parkway is quite pleasant -- no problem there.
Beyond that, you can just take 290/71's frontage road. It's not ideal, but in some places you have a nice shoulder, and in other places
you just take the right lane.
But to avoid that as much as possible, take Westgage south to Jones, Jones to Earnest Roble, Earnest to Brodie, Brodie to 290/71 then to SW Parkway. That's longer, but you're only on a really busy road without shoulder or sidewalk (290/71) for about a third of a mile.
I don't recall if Brodie has a bike lane where you'd be or not, but I think it has a sidewalk if you want to do that. Or just take the lane -- it's not that fast.
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It's pretty far from the worst case. Personally, if it were me, I'd just take 290/71 to SW Parkway, as other routes are longer and it's really not that long to begin with, and the roads aren't that bad. The traffic is pretty heavy most of the time, but it's not going too fast. Riding in bumper to bumper traffic bugs me when I've got cars ahead and behind me, but I realize it just bugs me -- it's not particularly difficult or dangerous.
Actually, on second thought, it's quite close to the worst case -- Mopac northbound over the greenbelt, between 290 and 360. Less than a mile away. That's high speed traffic with no frontage road, no shoulder and a narrow lane, and beyond the 6" shoulder is a 50' drop. But you won't be taking that section :)
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@dougmc
Hmm. Sorry. Now I'm a little confused. I'll be getting off the #5 bus on a Saturday afternoon around 2 or 3 at the Westgate mall which I think fronts Ben White and Westgate Blvd.
My maps are unclear about exactly which roads provide an opportunity to cross to the north side of Ben White/290/71.
Which of these are you suggesting?
1) West Gate Blvd
2) Sunset Trail
3) Pillow Rd
4) Ernest Robles Way
5) Brodie Ln
ggw
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Depends on how comfortable you are riding in traffic ...
Me, I guess I'm fairly comfortable, so I'd go north on Westgate to 290/71, stay on the frontage road and take it west to where SW Parkway splits off, following SW Parkway (and once you're across Mopac, it becomes easy.) I've never done that exact route on a bike, but I've ridden around there, and driven around there a lot, and I think it should be fine.
Or double the length of your trip, and go south on Westgate to Jones to Brodie etc. More shoulders and sidewalks that way, but it's like twice as long.
Ben White/290/71 are all the same road, though they stop calling it Ben White when it splits into 290/71 and 360.
Look at the area on Google maps. You should even be able to use the street view to get an idea of what you're looking at.
Last edited by dougmc (2009-03-23 22:17:34)
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