[Mpls] Biking on Hennepin

[Nathan Hunstad]

> Fascinating.  I understand that the maintenance of the bollards costs
> money, but apparently the safety,  lives, and limbs of bicyclists have no
> determinable value.

As a biker, I am not even sure I would want these bollards to be installed
again.  I bike down Hennepin Avenue fairly regulary (I did so yesterday),
and no signs or markers are going to change the laws of physics.  I fear
that any markers would simply make both bicyclists and drivers blind to the
real hazards present at these intersections; these may just be a few more
signs that disappear into the urban panorama.  That happens all too often
when crosswalk signs are installed.

As a bicyclist, I know what happens when I run into a two-ton steel vehicle,
so I know it is going to be mainly my responsibility to ensure that doesn't
happen.  You can bet that I spend a lot of time looking over my shoulder
when I am travelling down Hennepin Avenue.  Putting a bike lane in the
middle of a busy street, flanked by buses and three lanes of traffic, isn't
the best idea in the first place, and I don't think that any small measures
like signage will change that basic fact.

===
Nathan Hunstad
CARAG
Minneapolis, MN
(651) 489-9107 -- Home
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