bike paths

Bike Paths

Jonathan Kitts

1.Biking is a lot more environmentally friendly than cars are. 2. It’s a cheaper method of transportation3. It’s healthy for you.4. It’s good for the economy because bikers bring a lot of business to local stores.5. It can be faster than cars in urban areas because you can just drive by the morning or evening commute.

Positives of Biking

Cycle Tracks- These are bike paths that are physically separated from the automobile lanes by a concrete barrier or curb.

Types of Bike Paths

Bike Lanes- Bike lanes are where they paint over the road to show it’s a bike path. Its not separated from the street.

Types of Bike Paths

Bicycle Boulevards

- Bicycle boulevards are streets marked both for bikes and cars and are on low speed streets.

Types of Bike Paths

Bike boxes are used at intersections and allow the bikers to be a bit ahead of traffic so there isn’t any conflict between motorist and bikers. The cars must stop at the white line and the bikers come in front of the cars so they can cross the intersection then once they pass the intersection the bike path resumes on the other side.

Bike Boxes

Portland is probably one of the most biker friendly cities in the United States.

Right now according to Portland’s Bureau of Transportation 6% of commuters bike to work. This is the highest proportion for any city in US.

Portland Oregon

Traffic Calming- A few things planners do to slow down the traffic and make drivers more alert is add in speed bumps, roundabouts and medians that split the street in half.

Safety Features

This is important because it indicates to the drivers that there is a bike lane and to be cautious.

Pavement Markings and Signage

Having obvious well marked intersections for bikers is very important for keeping the bikers safe.

Well Marked Intersections

One things they have done in areas where biking is more common is add in parking lots for bikes.

Another thing that is becoming more common is adding in bike parking inside of offices for the people who commute to work on bike.

Bike Parking

A lot of bikers don’t seem to care to much about the weather.

“There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear.”

For the winter you can buy wind resistant gear and a mask that protects your face from wind burn.

For rain they make water resistant jackets and shorts.

Weather

Overall I think over time bike paths will become more common in cities but will always be overshadowed by cars.

The cities that have made the push for increased bike paths have defiantly benefitted from them.

Conclusion