this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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Speed on the surface streets in Chicago are pretty much by default 40+ because enforcement is so lax. Until very recently speed cameras wouldn't even ticket you until you were past 40 in a 30. Only earlier this year was the limit reduced to 36mph.
I'm not arguing against separated bike lanes, or bike lane enforcement (at all!) but I don't think it's an either-or thing. One thing to consider is that there will never be separated bike lanes all over the city because there simply is not room. Having separated bike lanes in only some places doesn't do anything for most potential bike trips because if there is even one "scary stretch" on a potential bike trip, most cyclists will leave the bike at home.
For bikes to be a viable option there needs to be a non-dangerous way to get from any given point in the city to any other given point and that necessarily requires that shared roads be safe for cyclists.
Valid points, I see what you're saying. Speaking to "by default 40+", I guess I'd rather see better enforcement for the laws in place before making the laws stricter for everyone. I am a big fan of what Paris is doing though. Making "peaceful zones" where they're closed to through traffic. That doesn't really solve the problem for traversing the entire city though. Gosh I wish we can just fully overhaul the city's infrastructure to have such good public transportation that I don't have to worry about needing to drive my car to get anywhere in an adequate amount of time.