White paint does not a bike lane make

One day, some years ago, I was cycling across Paynes Prairie, on U.S. 441, and suddenly found myself face down on hot asphalt. 

The good news is that I hadn’t been hit by a car. 

In fact, the spill happened when my front tire inadvertently strayed onto the nearly invisible “rumble strip” that FDOT put there to keep cars from running me down. 

I suppose you could call that a mixed blessing. But at the time I thought the rumble strip – a line of deep grooves cut into the asphalt – was nearly as hazardous to my health as having no separation at all.

Looking back, I suppose I should have been grateful for small FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) favors.

This because if you look at the most dangerous roads in GNV for cyclists and pedestrians alike, they are invariably state-maintained, high-speed stroads: Six-lane NW 34th Street being great example.

Oh, the other thing those state-maintained, multi-lane, high-speed urban highways have in common is this: When they even bother to designate bike lanes – and miles of state roads in GNV do not – their “protection” usually consists of white paint. 

Now, we have enough data about the efficacy, and popularity, of protected bike lanes – which are separated by some sort of barrier from traffic – to wonder why Florida’s transportation mavens are reluctant to install them on stroads like 34th street. 

An added expense, true. But nothing like the cost FDOT routinely expends to ensure the fast and efficient movement of cars.

By way of comparison, bike lanes protected by rubberized “zippers” – as can be seen on GNV’s NW 17th and 18th streets north of campus – can be installed for about $133,000 per mile.

If that seems steep, consider that the cost of building a multi-lane 34th St.-style stroad is about $11 million per mile.

Of course, Florida isn’t alone in prioritizing traffic movement over public safety. 

Consider this recent report published by Streetsblog USA:

The largest categorial of American “bike lanes” are little more than lines of paint at the edges of deadly roads — and that lack of quality infrastructure is keeping many would-be riders out of the saddle, a new study confirms.

Roughly 61 percent of paint-only bike paths in America are considered “high stress” corridors, meaning they’re sited on the kind of fast, multi-lane arterials where only the most-confident cyclists feel comfortable riding, the Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research study found…

…Considering that 77 percent of all on-road bicycle “infrastructure” in America is nothing more than a white stripe on the edge of the pavement, that means the single largest category of so-called “bike lanes” in the U.S. is barely deserving of the name…

Michael Garber, lead author of the study told Streetsblog:

“The higher speed and volume of a road, the more protective the bike facility should be. So moving forward, if transportation engineers are following this guidance, they ideally won’t be putting bike lanes on multi-lane, high-speed arterials anymore — and if they do put a bike lane on that kind of a road, it would be a protected bike lane.”

To which observation a cynical urban cyclist like myself might be tempted to say “When pigs fly.”

As a cyclist I hate to ride on sidewalks. I consider my presence an impingement on the rights of pedestrians. And I especially hate to see – as I frequently do – people on speedy e-bikes zipping along GNV sidewalks because they are too scared to ride with the cars.

But who can blame them for that?

I have two regular exceptions to my stay-off the sidewalks rule:

The first is my three-times a week bike trip to Planet Fitness, on NW 13th Street. On that stretch FDOT can’t be bothered to install even white painted bike lanes – presumably for fear that the resulting narrower traffic lanes might cause cars to unnecessarily slow down.

The second is on my weekly Saturday morning breakfast ride to the Metro Diner, on SW 34th Street. I simply won’t ride in the 34th St. bike lanes. Cars typically move so fast on that urban speedway that even FDOT must consider the posted 45 mph limit a laughable suggestion.

How hostile is FDOT to protected bike lanes?

Well, the City recently tried to traffic calm NW 8th Ave, between Main Street, and 6th Street by installing protected bike lanes separated against traffic by low “zippers.”

After the fact, state traffic engineers, heeding complaints of drivers and business owners, decided that was a terrible idea.

So even though it approved the design in the first place, FDOT turned around and made GNV rip the zippers back up again.

Because somebody complained.

You can call the end result of that stretch of 8th Ave many things, but traffic calmed is not one of them. I have frequently seen cars zipping down 8th’s paint “protected” bike lanes like they were two more regular traffic lanes.

FDOT’s business plan is plain as day: Billions to facilitate driving. Pennies to try to give cyclists and pedestrians a fighting chance.

Hence FDOT’s Alert Today Alive Tomorrow PR campaign. Which basically urges vulnerable road users who are not encased inside cars to watch their own asses. Because FDOT won’t.

This is the same agency, of course, that has for generations been designing “forgiving” roads because it knows that drivers cannot be trusted not to kill themselves and others.

Alas, it has ever been thus in these United States of autoAmerican Anarchy.