In Praise Of......Bike-Friendly Cities

[marmar]

Copenhagen


Montreal


Berlin


San Francisco


Amsterdam


Ann Arbor


Chicago


Stockholm

[Arugula Latte]

1. May I add my own adopted city, Portland:

http://www.momentumplanet.com/files/imagecache/article-large/images/lead/portland%27s+bike+friendly+developments.jpg

[marmar]

3. Cool.....I've got to get out to visit Portland.

The approach to urban sprawl there impresses me.

[Arugula Latte]

7. There are some main avenues where it seems like there are more bikes than cars passing

Particularly in parts of North Portland, I've noticed.

[Reader Rabbit]

31. Yup. I like the Ladd's Addition Bike Highway, myself.

Pedaled through there four times in the last two days, back and forth to Portland State. Always more bikes than cars, and on a weekday, it's like rush hour!

[tabbycat31]

2. K&R

from someone who lives in a bike-friendly area

[Luminous Animal]

4. And San Francisco is only going to get better.

Thanks to the hard work of the Bicycle Coalition and the monthly protests of Critical Mass. I love that our bicycle routes are numbered and displayed along with traffic signs.

Bicycling in Barcelona was fantastic with thousands of rental bikes stationed around the city and a network of bike routes.

[marmar]

6. With or without bikes, Barcelona is fantastic.....

I love that city.

[Luminous Animal]

11. I love it, too!

[Arugula Latte]

8. I love me my San Francisco, but, wow, anyone who can bike there is a cardiovascular hero to me!

I used to live there (upper Market) and there was a hill I could hardly climb walking, let alone biking.

Bikers of San Francisco -- You have my undying respect! :patriot:

[C_U_L8R]

5. Come on Boston

Get it together !

[Warpy]

27. I biked in Boston

It was a frigging nightmare.

[onehandle]

9. Paris is pretty good too. I would say that a good 15 to 20% of street traffic was bikes.

I was there for several weeks last year. They have a wonderful public bike service called 'Velib.' I partook. Walked up, used my American credit card, got a bike for a day for one Euro ($1.50+/-). An annual pass is like $45.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9rfuf_champions-de-velib_news







And here my I sit in the city that is usually on the top of the bike unfriendly cities. Atlanta sucks.

[marmar]

10. True....I forget how bike-friendly Paris is becoming.....

Just another feather in the cap of the greatest city in the world, IMHO.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. I'll add Anchorage, too.

We have bike trails all over the city and out into the countryside.

http://www.alaskaanchorage.net/anchorage/biketrails.php

[Gabi Hayes]

13. here you go...interesting meld with this thread:

http://www.virgin-vacations.com/site_vv/11-most-bike-friendly-cities.asp

[SOS]

14. And a big thumbs down to NYC!

What could be a great city for bicycle transportation, is instead a bicyclists hell.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

15. Salut!

:thumbsup:

[backscatter712]

16. Fort Collins, and the Colo. St. Univ. campus do a halfway decent job.

At CSU, it's out of necessity, because space is at a premium, but there's lots of bike trails, and many of the roads have been closed to car traffic - there's too many people, too few places for cars, and a need for alternatives.

Fort Collins has also built some decent bike trails, and does have bike lanes on a lot of the roads. Certainly, there's always room for more, but this isn't bad.

[CrispyQ]

17. Boulder has lots of bike trails,

but you take your life in your hands when riding on the streets. Brave riders! I'm mostly a ped, & I thought drivers were rude to us, but some of the things I've seen drivers do to bikers takes the cake! It's much safer on foot than on a bike.

What is it about drivers & their bad attitude about sharing the road with bikers? Yeah, you come across an occasional asshole biker, but for the most part, the bikers I see are very cognizant of sharing the road, while the drivers, not so much.

[Oeditpus Rex]

18. Sanna Crooz, Kollyforniya

Map of bike lanes and paths and bicycle resources in Santa Cruz (Caution: Large PDF.)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

19. Sanity Cruise

My home town!

[Oeditpus Rex]

20. I just moved here in April

I freaking love it. :bounce:

[skygazer]

21. How nice to see people on bikes who don't look like they're trying to be Lance Armstorng

Around here, it seems like about 90% of the people I see are all decked out in spandex covered with corporate logos - they can't ALL have sponsors, can they?!

[BumRushDaShow]

22. Philadelphia is now the #1 bicycle commuting city per capita in the U.S.

That is all.

http://blog.bicyclecoalition.org/2009/10/philadelphia-is-no-1-among-big-cities.html

[Xicano]

23. Add the beach cities in Los Angeles to the list.

[thunder rising]

24. Federal Interstate corridors need bike lanes. I really think they would be used.

In many cities traffic flow is designed around the Interstate corridor. The highways generally provide the most direct route to and from sections of the city. Bikers have to take a much longer more tedious route.

[DBoon]

25. Davis, California ????

One of the pioneers in bike-friendly planning

[Warpy]

26. Albuquerque is getting better

especially around the university. New bike lanes are sprouting up elsewhere.

[taterguy]

28. Ocracoke, NC on the Outer Banks

I've never bothered taking a picture of the town but since it's so compact most people bike places.

Besides, no one on Ocracoke is ever in a hurry

[bvar22]

29. Minneapolis is definitely 5 stars !

The network of dedicated bike paths is unsurpassed.
Hundreds of miles of well maintained dedicated bike paths criss cross the Twin Cities.
There are some road crossings, but these are surprisingly few.
It is possible to transit St Paul/Minneapolis and gain access to all major areas without sharing the road with gas powered vehicles. The central downtown area does have divided roads with bike lanes, but with careful planning, only a few minutes needs to be spent sharing the road with autos before accessing a dedicated bikeway.



The commuter bikeways are well maintained and well marked to avoid confusion.
You would never know this is in the middle of a dense, urban area.


Some of the commuter bikeways even have emergency call boxes.
The residents frequently plant gardens alongside the paths.



Cool off/on ramps



Winters in the Twin Cities can be hostile, but the main artery commuter bikeways are kept clear.
It is possible to ride through the winters, but it is not for everybody.


Studs are a good idea for winter riding in Minnesota, but not absolutely necessary if care is taken to stay on cleared paths.

[jimlup]

30. It scares me a bit that Ann Arbor is considered bike friendly

... I've been honked at, yelled at, and squeezed off the road all while riding legally in Ann Arbor.

Drivers don't know how to react to bikes - they are often confused and do the wrong thing. Bike lanes exist on a few key routes but many more need them.

It worries me that we actually believe a city like Ann Arbor is bike friendly. Yes, it is better than most places but that isn't saying much.

[Reader Rabbit]

32. Chicago? Really?

When I lived there, I was the only one I ever saw biking, and the cars were always trying to kill me.

[Bravo Zulu]

33. Major steps announced to finishing bicycle trail!

A 335-mile biking/hiking trail that will connect Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., moved one mile closer to completion yesterday but took a far bigger leap forward with the announcement of an agreement for future construction.

Dignitaries snipped the ribbon on a one-mile section of the Great Allegheny Passage in Duquesne, from the Riverton Bridge through Regional Industrial Development Corp.'s Riverplace City Center to Grant Avenue, a stretch that includes a 60-foot tunnel.

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato also announced an agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway that will clear the way for completion of another 2.5 miles by next summer, from Duquesne to the Waterfront shopping complex.

That will leave one incomplete section, less than a mile, through Sandcastle Waterpark. Years of negotiations with the park's owners have failed to produce an agreement, but Mr. Onorato's spokesman, Kevin Evanto, said yesterday that "both sides are optimistic that we are going to be able to reach an agreement to get the trail through."

"We're almost there," Mr. Onorato said, "and we'll continue working hard to get it done."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09276/1002742-147.stm#ixzz0TeFxtBMQ