It makes you feel like you’re riding your bike on the freeway without, you know, actually riding on the freeway. It used to be a bit more dangerous too, but recent lane striping and cycling logos now warn 55mph cars that bicycles will be on the road too. Regardless, the feeling you get while zipping down the ramp and taking in that Mission Terrace-style view is well worth it.
What are your favorite bike lanes in the city?
Is this the onramp to San Jose Ave off Glen Park?
the raddest onramp in the city!
One night around 2:30 AM, I rode my bike the wrong way down this lane whilst not being in a state of complete insobriety. In fact, it’s way easier to get to Mission Terrace doing this rather than taking the approved lanes using the right side of San Jose and exiting at Arlington.
and useful too. I was on it this weekend, luvin it, but hoping they install some additional separation between the bike lane and the cars — they really do (I really do when I’m in a car) take that turn @55.
Uh, yeah. SO not safe. I’ve never tried to take my son to City College from the Mission on my Xtracycle, as much as I’d like to, because I’m not so down with the janky half-assed bike lane on San Jose Ave. How about some green paint and pavement bumps at least, MTA?
I’ve been using that onramp for over a year now without incident, but it’s still scary as hell. I’d have to say it was a lot more terrifying when it was just two car lanes and a bike logo. People would pass you and give you a look like you were doing something wrong. What’s really gnarly is that about 100 yards after you make it over the onramp they want you to cross over a lane of traffic and vice versa to cars, to allow people to make a right turn, now that’s bananas. Paint it green.
OMG–flashback to drunken nitetime rollerskating last year. That is the world’s coolest ramp.
arguello into the park towards wiggle, you go on the bike lane against traffic and a night with hardly any lights you feel like an adventurer.
This area has a lot of crazy bike lanes. Hitting San Jose from Glen Park/Monterey is pretty good compared to what you’re forced to do if you want to go north from San Jose (onto San Jose). I know they say “bicycles not advised” through the J-Church/San Jose tunnel, but I haven’t found a great alternative. It’s mostly just bad in the morning with everyone going 70 mph coming off 280.
Further N/NE, there’s that crazy stretch of Alemany (headed toward the Farmer’s/Flea Market) that really used to feel like riding on a freeway. I’m mildly excited to report that they’ve cut out one lane of traffic entirely to provide some space between the bike lane and the traffic.
My favorite lane though has to be the stretch from Woodside to Laguna Honda to 7th Avenue into GG Park. Woodside kind of sucks (just sharrows, threat of dooring) but if you take the lane you can keep up with traffic usually. Then you can take a right on Laguna and cruise the slight downhill on the fresh pavement past the reservoir. If you don’t go too fast you can catch the green light at Lawton and from there you should be able to make it all the way to Lincoln without stopping.
Not being young or trendy I’m not quite sure what the word “raddest” means but surely it should say “saddest” bike lane.
The bike lane on Alemany has in fact been extended almost all the way to Bayshore Blvd, with sharrows for the last quarter mile. Riding downhill on Alemany all the way from the intersection with San Jose Ave by the Daly City border is now is an even more epic high-speed bike-freeway experience. At almost 4 miles, it might be the longest single bike lane in SF.
This is total nonsense and shows the commitment of S.F. officials to keep cycling below a 10% mode share. Whoever approved this at SFMTA should be fired immediately.
Bike lanes are cheaper and more politically expedient than getting the SFPD to enforce the damn law to change dangerous motorist behavior. But only changing motorist through sustained episodes of Skinnerist conditioned response through hefty moving violation fines will change conduct in any way will make cycling measurably safer.
Who has time to dodge the dog leashes, dog deposits and children on the so-called Class I bike path on the north side of the panhandle? Especially when you can cut across the aforementioned oncoming lanes of traffic, merge through three lanes of westbound traffic onto Oak, where the synchronized lights work for bikes too.
One idiot in a Dodge Charger took umbrage that I was bicycling at speed last week and merged into the far right lane of, what is it there, the end of Kezar right before the Stanyan light which was red at the time. He pointed his car at me and hit the gas because I stopped him from stopping for a moment.
I shot him the finger and he was not able to catch me, center striping at Masonic and Divisadero as I did, which lets me move faster than cars with which it is easy to keep up anyway, swinging down Steiner before the Oak hill gets too intense, careening into the Lower Haight and back to the sanity of my beloved Mission.