Seriously!?....Who removes bike lanes?

  

So it's Friday, and Wifey and I decided to go out to lunch today.  Nothing fancy....in fact we tried to stay as "local" as we could over here on the east side of the airport.  The problem is that it's an industrial wasteland in terms of fine dining.  So our choices were Joe Bobs (and I do like their wings) or Wongs Genghis Khan (an unknown).  The reviews on yelp weren't bad, so off we went.  The food is buffet style Mongolian and sushi.....all you can eat.  I'd rank it as average and a few dishes were probably even in the good range.  If they cleaned the place up a bit it would probably get higher reviews.  However, I bet this doesn't happen because the lunch crowd was huge despite my mediocre review.

Afterwards we decided a little bike ride was in order to burn off a few of the grease laden calories.  So we took a tour of the industrial streets on the way back to work.  I've ridden here before just for lunch time entertainment.  There are bike lanes although people like to park in them.  About a year ago I took this picture.

No big deal, the roads aren't busy and you just ride around them.  The question I had, is why they park here.  Every building has tons of parking!  Parking here just means you walk father and you know Americans aren't renowned for walking on purpose!

So today let's see an update of the same location.....

WTF!!!  Who spent money to grind off the bike lane markers!!!???  I know nobody was handing out tickets to the clowns who were parking in the bike lanes anyway.  So who or why spend $$$ to wipe out designated bike lanes?  Is this tax dollars?  City of Reno? RTC?  Local business who wants street parking?

I don't know but I'm sure going to try to find out.  This is not cool people, Reno is just starting to get on the band wagon for building bicycle infrastructure.  Two steps forward, one step back is not a game we need to start playing!

To be or not to be, that is the question.

A question that applies to "Bike Routes" apparently.  Specifically, I'm thinking about the bike route that is posted along Mill St., but this applies in general to the routes that are signed in Reno.  First up, I'm not actually certain what the definition of a "bike route" is...  I guess my assumption was that it involved a dedicated place for me to ride.  I mean otherwise why post the signs and direct a rider to use this particular route?

The "Bike Route" appears to terminate about 50 ft after the sign!

 Of course, I've ridden Mill St. (a designated Bike Route) more times than I can count and I know that there are definitely sections without designated bike lanes.  Moreover, it's not even a low traffic road that is conducive to cycling for most people.  So why is it a posted "Bike Route" (especially since the river path parallels this option)?

No "Bike Route" here....but hey at least if you get hit your right across from the Hospital!

Kind of a "Bike Route / Lane", but really it's for parking cars....  What a great use of a public street!

If you hang in there long enough a Bike Lane magically reappears!

 
I've come to the conclusion the a "Bike Route" must just be a prescribed route that gets you from point A to point B as directly as possible.  Especially since for my particular destination you could pick up the river path with a 1/2 block detour back in downtown Reno and get to the same location on the other side of town without risking your life for 4 miles!

Now it is 1 mile longer in terms of the length of the ride, but the lower stress level and safety make it a no brainer for most folks.  My biggest concern is if you didn't know the area, you'd never know the river path was there as an option (no posted signs) and the "Bike Route" designation that originally heads out from downtown Reno would lead you to believe you were taking the best option!

Fortunately, this route is under study for improvements (see the Mill/Terminal corridor study) and we may have a really nice route to ride on this stretch in the next few years.  If we're lucky, we might even be able to ride to the Airport without traffic trauma!  Until then be wary of the route and do a little homework before you head out the door for a ride in an unknown area!