James CradockSomeone here (perhaps) commented Washington Ave. in Portland, Maine was very much improved for bicyclists. I rode from Congress to Canco, and I am not seeing it. I guess I’ll do the Canco to West Falmouth leg next.
Christian MilNeil@jamesecradockjr definitely improved from what it was like 10-20 years ago. It used to be a 4-lane speedway, now there are painted bike lanes for almost the entire length
@cmilneil That was terse.
Just observations.
As I said over on Twitter, Washington from Veranda to Presumpscot isn't great. Seems the two lanes (left: car, right: shared) split into three skinnier lanes at the light (left: straight car, middle: bicycle; right: turning car) so not great.
I didn't register the speed of cars and trucks. It seemed not wildly > 30.
No one drove in the bike lane when I was in it, which is not uncommon on Forest.
Thank you.
@jamesecradockjr right, and the segment from Veranda to Presumpscot is the only section that hasn’t been converted from 4 lanes to 2. As you note, that multi lane layout encourages speeding.
But that used to be the layout of the entire avenue all the way to North Deering.
@jamesecradockjr IIRC the city is also planning a paint-only bike lane and elimination of one car lane in the presumpscot- Washington segment as part of the big federal grant they just got for East Deering
@cmilneil Thanks. Why not physically separated bike lane? Kids going to Presumpscot might use it.
This has always seemed like a big miss, and an obvious thing to do since my son attended Talbot, to encourage kids to bike to school, and parents of elementary school kids it was safe.
@cmilneil I know the bike lanes are better on Auburn by Lyseth. I do feel like we need to move towards physically separated lanes.
@jamesecradockjr There's definitely enough right-of-way north of Presumpscot St. for physical separation. But two big obstacles are MaineDOT, which is not an especially competent agency, and the capital costs of adding barriers.
@cmilneil Yes, understood.