BIKE: Re: Route advice

[Phil Hallmark]

I got this from Paul Crocker, friend of mine who used to commute in that 
area:


I commuted from Rollingwood to Freidrich Ln. twice a week for an 18month 
period.
I was also fearful of the route at first, but later found it to be a 
very enjoyable ride.
I rode the north side of town lake to the east side of I-35 where I 
crossed the
river on the pedestrian bridge.  From there I took Riverside to Parker 
Ln, which
I took all the way to Woodward.  Parker lane is hilly and an excellent 
workout.
It is also a 30mph road, and I never felt threatened there.  As you 
said, Woodward
was stressful.  Sometimes I choose the sidewalk, but usually just tried 
to ride fast
since I was on it for such a short time.  The Ben White crossing is 
totally different
now so I cannot comment.  The other dangerous spot was crossing Riverside.
There is a light, but there is also a "yield lane" with lots of 
traffic.  On Riverside
I used the south sidewalk for both directions.  I would not consider 
using the
traffic lane on Riverside.



Dearest fellow commuters and BicycleAustin denizens,

It is with at least slight trepidation that I begin my new commute to
the south-east corner of I-30 and Ben White, just off of Freidrich Ln
to be more precise.  In reviewing my thoroughly creased and torn old
bike route map, I see two route options that present themselves, and I
wondered if any of you might have experience in this area enough to
weigh in with helpful advice on which of the two is superior.

The first, and the one that I've test-ridden once a few weeks back, is
down East Side, across the St. Edwards campus to Woodward, where I
turn east to cross both I-35 and Ben White (the intersections with
which are nasty, strewn as they are with nails and broken glass, and
lacking as they do dedicated bike facilities, which forces one up onto
the sidewalks for stretches).

The other option that I just noticed is to continue east on
Annie/Woodland across I-35, where it appears there's a controlled
crossing of I-35 as opposed to the non-controlled crossing at
Woodward), to turn south on Parker Ln.  Parker then heads all the way
down to Woodward, where I'm still faced with crossing Ben White, but
the time spent on (the nasty section of) Woodward would be roughly
halved.

For maps, each showing these two routes, see

    http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/bicycle/c2s.htm
    http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/vol17/issue07/pols.bikemap.7.html

Any advice would, as always, be much appreciated.  Whatever I learn,
from others or by experience, I'll try to remember to pass along to
the list and, more important, to Michael Bluejay to include on
BicycleAustin.

-Lane

PS I know about the bus route options, but I'd like to try to cycle
the whole way, as I'm a glutton for punishment (ie, I love to ride)

_______________________________________________________________________
Lane Wimberley             8303 N. MoPac, Suite A-300  Austin, TX 78759
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