The Stupidest Bike Lane in America
Alert readers David P. and Ethan send along the following video.
A video blogger at Slate went looking for the stupidest bike lane in America, and to the surprise of nobody found it right here in Los Angeles.
Andy Bowers braves 275 feet of bike lane on Gayley street near UCLA with a camera on his head to bring us the news that Westwood has the stupidest bike lane in America. Bowers complains about the short distance, that the lane doesn't connect anything, and it dumps cyclists back into traffic with no notice.
The video ends with a challenge, if you think you have a dumber bike lane, send it to slatev@slate.com.
Filed by Damien Newton
under Bicycling
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Bike Lanes and routes in LA more or less universally suck. When I went looking for a bike route from my home to my office the recommended route dumped me on a street that was three lanes in each direction where the right hand lane was barely wide enough for a car and had a > 8″ curb to the sidewalk so that there is almost no way to “bail out” if you sense a problem.
Justin
Comment by Justin — March 27, 2008 @ 5:53 pm | Link
Well, with the going rate in L.A. of $1 million per mile for a bike lane, that awesome stretch of paint cost … $52,000.
Intrestingly, that “bike lane” does not show up on the LADOT’s Bike Map! Check it out:
http://www.bicyclela.org/map_6e.htm
So, maybe it isn’t a bike lane after all?
Comment by ubrayj02 — March 27, 2008 @ 7:10 pm | Link
That’s a super dangerous bike lane as well - there’s all these blidn driveways and oblivious students. One street over the perpetually traffic jammed Westwood is better = slow vehicle speeds allow you to work your way through traffic quickly and safely.
Comment by Alex Thompson — March 27, 2008 @ 7:23 pm | Link
I played the video twice. You know what is even stupider? That the video is brought to you by Infiniti EX car.
Comment by Clarence Eckerson — March 28, 2008 @ 11:22 am | Link
thanks to david byrne for the tip:
http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/10/08/1200-pack-town-hall-for-how-new-yorkers-ride-bikes/
Comment by facility — March 31, 2008 @ 3:22 pm | Link