Last year, I attempted riding on Southside Blvd between Deerwood Park Blvd and Touchton Rd. Twice. Being on the same road as cars traveling at excess of 50 mph seriously questions ones safety. I don’t mean to target Southside but it is the only road within easy reach of me and tends to portray a healthy mix of demography representative of the Jacksonville suburbs. The argument made below with Southside Blvd in perspective may be made for all major connecting roads.
More people start using bicycles as transportation when they have the option to use it to go to a place of business such as movie theaters, restaurants etc. Families prefer to visit such businesses with their family members. Workers such as bartenders, waiting staff, movie theater staff can save more if they incur less car-related expenses: gas, insurance, maintenance.
The map below shows residential neighborhoods in blue, Tinseltown with its movie theaters, bars and restaurants in pink and the direct route in red. The entire length of the red lined route is 4.4 miles, an easy ride.
The speed limit on this stretch is 45 mph. Cars usually travel here at 50 mph to 60 mph. There is some shoulder on this road. It is usually littered with debris and not very wide. Turning lanes at Baymeadows Rd, Deerwood Park Blvd, exit to JTB, entry from JTB, Gate Parkway etc cause a serious hazard for a cyclist in the shoulder.
The Challenge:
Lets assume that you are sold on the idea of bicycles as transportation. You are out with your family, kids on their bikes and are planning to visit a restaurant for dinner. Maybe you are single and are out with a date on your bicycles to Mellow Mushroom to catch the live band on Friday night. Maybe you want to attempt one less car trip to the movie theater to meet your friends for the new Harry Potter movie.
Here are two methods (A and B) of travel. Which one would you chose?
Method A:
The video below created by Keri from Commute Orlando shows how to ride on the road where the speed limit is 55 mph. The trick here is to not control the outside lane in the center but on the outer two thirds. Remember, you are not required to wear lycra or ride at +15 mph as is depicted in the video below. Normal clothes and a comfortable 10 mph on your beach cruiser is acceptable.
Pros:
- Utilize existing road infrastructure for bicycle commutes. 92% of your Income Tax, Sales Tax and Property Tax pays for those roads anyway.
Cons:
- Some of the cars switching lanes to overtake do so at a very close proximity to Keri’s bike. A slight oversight, miscalculation or distraction will lead to a crash that nobody wants. We all know how sparingly motorists use cell phones, radios and iPods.
- During three minutes of the video, Keri gets yelled at only once. Firstly, this implies that Orlando traffic in that area is much much more civil than Jacksonville traffic in any area. Try riding on University Blvd or Southside Blvd to find out. Secondly, this questions the time of the day. Trying to ride like this in rush hour may not be as pleasant. Maybe the motorists could even see the video cameras strapped onto the helmets.
- What we never see is cars once overtaken cutting back into the lane in an aggressive manner. That behavior is prevented by the presence of the second rider in front of Keri. Cutting in front of the cyclist aggressively is a dangerous move and is more prevalent in slower traffic.
These cons reduce what is called Subjective Safety: Are you near fast moving traffic ? Is it easy to make a turn across traffic ? Do you have to cycle "fast" in order to keep up ?
Method B:
Imagine if Southside Blvd and all similar roads with a speed limit of above 35 mph had a bike path separated from motorized traffic by a curb, a grassy shoulder and maybe even some trees. This, when complimented with appropriate forced yields at turning lane intersections and stop signs for the segregated bike path reduces any conflict with motorists.
Given such infrastructure, would you ride here with your children?
Would you let your children ride bikes to school?
Would you let your teenage son or daughter commute on these roads to visit after school programs, sports practice, friends etc?
Would you have a quality commute and in turn, a quality life?
Very good post, valid points with visual examples, AND excellent suggested solutions. The city is re-working quite a bit of roadwork out here at the beach and I am wondering if there will be any consideration at all to the very high number of cyclists in the finished design. Drivers are more aware of cyclists out here and the speed limits are pretty strictly enforced, helping out further. But it may take only one community around here to really get things right for cyclists so the best example is set for others to follow suit. Thanks Shek, for the positive post left with open-ended questions for consideration.
I think this is an interesting blog post, but I have some issues with it:
1. You didn’t talk about appropriate clothing and behavior in terms of using turn signals, etc. I think that you should ALWAYS address that. I see so many cyclists behaving inappropriately, and it drives me crazy, as cycling is almost always dangerous anyway.
2. In America, bikes are considered motor vehicles, subject to all the same laws as cars, and using the same roads as cars. We shouldn’t have to have our own, separate bike trail. We pay for those roads, and they should just make room for us. I appreciate what you’re suggesting about the separate bike path and it’s family-friendliness, but it’s super annoying to me that we have to be relegated to something else, when the roads are supposed to be ours as well.
I, for one, would never ride Southside. I used to bike all the time back home. Having been hit by cars twice, in a small town, and on a busy road, I won’t do it here. I was in the break down lane, with less traffic than here, and better drivers than here, and I was still hit. Plus, I was run off the road several times. I would NEVER ride on a busy road in Jax. It’s too dangerous.
T,
Thanks for your comment. Most roads in the Beaches do not have very high speed limits. Strict speed limit enforcement does improve subjective safety for bicyclists.
Fenn,
Thank you for your comment. I touched on appropriate behavior in previous posts. Your comment gives me an idea for a new post. This post is geared more towards why families do not ride bikes on roads that they pay for and what can change that.
The law that lets bikes use roads leads to people like you being run off and hit. All very unfortunate. There is quality sense in holding on to that law on roads with speed limits higher than 35 mpg. Worse is that majority of businesses that a family can visit are on high traffic roads.
Segregated bike paths will also be paid by us and used by a lot more people. They will use it to save gas money and other car related expenses leading to higher savings and expenditure towards local businesses. Can you imagine how many people would benefit in today’s tough market with one less car? Would you feel comfortable riding on Southside Blvd with Method A or B?