The installation and upkeep of bike lanes, often seen as an unnecessary expenditure of municipal funds, actually pay for themselves in reduced maintenance costs for damage caused by automobiles, according to a recent study funded by the Washington D.C.-based bike lane lobby group Bike-Walk America.
Every year, thousands of street signs, poles, and fire hydrants have to be replaced because they have been run over by careless and hostile automobile drivers. Simply by striping in 3' bike lanes (the preferred size in BWA bike-friendly communities like Austin, Texas), at a cost of only $20,000 per lane mile (plus annual maintenance costs of up to $5,000 per lane mile), motorists would no longer be able to hit street fixtures. The costs for the bike lanes would be easily offset by never again having to replace street signs, meter posts, and fire hydrants. Not only do cities become bike friendly by installing bike lanes, they become sign and hydrant friendly, too, and coincidentally, more fiscally responsible in these lean economic times.
"The logic is inescapable," says BWA executive director Clark Wallabees.
5 comments:
So in this case Cyclist become the barrier for "careless and hostile automobile drivers." :)
"no longer be able" should probably be phrased "no longer be as likely". Without a physical barrier separating the bike lane from the motorized travel lanes, there's still nothing to prevent a drunk or careless driver from drifting right, over the bike lane, the curb, and over signs and hydrants. With the extra separation, it does make it less likely however, and gives the driver more time to react before leaving the roadway surface.
Well done.
You guys shold look at the post date for the blog -- April 1,also known as All Fools Day.
I'm guessing this is a date-appropriate post. Another I liked was at http://www.sdcitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/cyclist_admires_self_crashes/7919/
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