I was investigating what was happening about the connecting of the existing bike paths on Estes with Carrboro by using the new Action Line and I got my question answered in one day! My first answer was from David Poythress, Street Superintendent, who explained some of the barriers to the project; Carrboro town limits end at the railroad, only 35' roadway as it connects with N. Greensboro, leaving only 5' for each side which isn't enough room, and it is a DOT road. He suggested I contact Dale Mckeel, Transportation Planner.
Dale got right back with me and told me he had a plan he was taking to the DOT for connecting the bike paths from Seawell School Road to Hillcrest and Williams using the city owned sewer easement that is already in place, basically cutting through to Williams close to Wilson Park.
This is definately long overdue. I first inquired about this possibility in the late 90s and was told it was planned for around 2001. Then it got shifted back, then again. Dale McKeel suggested I contact Douglas Galyon, with NC Board of Transportation who he will be meeting with on this matter to voice my support. I am posting this here hoping that others will also contact Mr. Galyon with their support for this improvement to our ease and safety in cycling on Estes.
Douglas Galyon
NC Board of Transportation
PO Box 14996
Greensboro, NC 27415-4996
douggalyon@dot.state.nc.us
Issues:
Comments
A good friend of mine, who
Wayne,
Nearly every comment you have ever made at OP has been either overly-aggressive, rude, or both. Joe's friend is perfectly right, in my opinion, to teach his kids to pick the safest place to ride in each situation - defensive "driving". Your ridicule of that is both counterproductive and immature.
Robert, Your opinion is
Robert,
Your opinion is fairly useless since you are ignorant of what it takes to ride a bicycle effectively. Again I say that without specifics of what constitutes safe riding, telling children to pick a safe place is simply ridiculous. What do children know about bicycle collision causation?
“Pretend that every motorist is out to get you, and pick the safest place to ride,..."
Is that a bad joke or what?
Wayne
Every motorist is out to get me! I better hide under the couch.
Robert, Nothing you can say
Robert,
Nothing you can say is ever going to change Wayne's opinion about anything and it just isn't worth your efforts to try to engage in a dialogue with someone who needs to result to insults to try to make a point. I enjoy your thoughtful and considerate posts but I think you're wasting your time trying to have a meaningful discussion with him.
Wayne, Thanks for the stress
Wayne,
Thanks for the stress relief, I actually got a nice laugh out of that. I'll leave the bicycle commentary to your tender graces.
Thanks for the advice George!
George, I've always been
George,
I've always been open to meaningful discussion. However, until you and Robert are able to add anything meaningful, I''ll stick by my assertion that telling children that every motorist is out to get them and to then pick the safest place to ride is nothing but buffonery.
Wayne
Another foolish column in
Another foolish column in today's N&O whines about bike lanes or paved shoulders on Estes. Poor bicyclists allegedly only have a foot of pavement out of the travel lanes where boogey men behind the wheel will getcha. "...cyclists must perform something of a tighrope act on wheels..."
DO NOT RIDE LIKE A ROAD LEPER!
Folks, I ride Estes all the time and I use the lane like a bicyclist ought to; taking up significant space. I compel motorists to slow and be cautious when passing. I have zero problems.
Bike lanes and paved shoulders simply allow motorists to pass faster without moving over. They allow motorists to drive faster whether or not bicyclists are present. They reduce bicyclists' space to the worst part of the road. These are NOT benefits to bicyclists.
Wayne
Bicycle driving lessons per request.
Did you know that bike lanes
Did you know that bike lanes on Estes will save the planet from global warming? Wow!
Below is a 10/11 letter to the editor in the CH News that says just that.
"After watching “An Inconvenient Truth,†I am compelled to plea for the funding of the 2007-20013 Transportation Improvement Plan, adopted on March 1, 2005, by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, which states as its first priority the addition of a bike lane to Estes Drive.
In the documentary, Al Gore present very sobering, commonly accepted information about the current environmental damage caused by global warming and the projected damage in the next 50 years. Then he encourages us to find the middle ground between denial and desperate action.
Many of us want to bike to work to contribute to a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions, but when we consider the hazards of riding on Estes or Homestead Road (another road on the priority list) we find we do not have the courage. If we had a safe way to commute by bicycle, we would.
Surely our state government can find the funds and the time to provide safe bike routes on our primary thoroughfares. The plans have been made; it is now a matter of money.
We can do our part in stopping the planet from reaching unsustainable temperatures, and we should do it now. If you are concerned about this issue, please write to Division Engineer Mike Mills, at mmills@dot.sta [deletion error] funding needed to complete Carrboro's improvement plan.
Perhaps adding bike lanes would be inconvenient for a while. But even more inconvenient would be the loss of our planet. Can we really tell our children there was nothing we could have done?"
Incredible.
1. If she REALLY wanted to ride she could do it in the grass.
2. About 3 extra people might bike commute if there were bike lanes there. Maybe.
3. Any pollution savings from a modal shift from car to bike due to bike lanes on Estes would be overwhelmed, perhaps for decades, by the pollution created in building the bike lanes.
Wayne
The earth is going to incinerate, but I don't have the courage to ride my bike on normal roads, so I'll just have to tell my children there was nothing I could have done as I watch the hair on their arms burn off!
Effective cycling in Chapel
Effective cycling in Chapel Hill and Carrboro seems to be almost exclusively the domain of white and presumably middle-class people. Those bicycling on the sidewalk or darting in and out of the gutter/shoulder are much more likely to be poor and/or minorities (just based on my observation of dress and type of bicycle). Any ideas on why this is the case? I was going to ask if there were any stats on bike injuries by race/ethnicity, but I suppose there would be a huge reporting bias in those numbers.
Ethan, You may be correct,
Ethan,
You may be correct, but anecdotal observations can be notoriously unreliable. For example, my wife and I commute everyday along Airport Rd (aka MKL) and see only white/middle class, some of which are on the sidewalk. Two people I see very often are professionals at UNC, and both are on the sidewalk along Piney Mt road as well.
One thought is that minorities and lower SES people tend to have clunker bikes which tend foster very slow riding, which tends to make one feel more like a pedestrian than a vehicle operator.
Sidewalk riding can be safe as long as one goes slow and is prepared to yield at all driveways and intersections, and is wary of turning vehicles from the parallel street. Speed and daydreaming leads to collisions. Of course, conflicits with pedestrians can occur as well.
Wayne
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