I know I slip easily into hyperbole on this topic. That is not aimed at rational people; it’s aimed at the people who regularly show up on these threads to denigrate cyclists and condemn every penny spent on sidewalks, bike lanes and off road trails as a waste of money, because somewhere out in the burbs the car lobby wants to add traffic lanes and create high speed, limited access roads that create near impassable barriers slashed across what used to be pleasant residential areas and neighborhood shopping districts.
I’ve lived for 46 years in an historic district that has been a continuous target for highway “improvements” that would destroy the neighborhood in the name of pumping ever more cars into a downtown that is already choked. We no sooner dodge a bullet than another comes along. Enough is enough. We need to respect the integrity of existing neighborhoods, prioritize mixed use neighborhoods to give a much larger number of people viable multimodal transit options, and insist on sidewalks and regular street crossings in residential areas.
If that means more traffic lights for commuters, fine. If it means more pedestrian and bike over-and underpasses across arterial roads, fine. This is part of the cost of building complete roads and it should come out of the road construction budget. There is a threshold, which varies due to local constraints like rivers, mountains and coastal areas, above which the automobile commute systems passes the point of diminishing returns. It then slides into serious dysfunction. Our larger cities are far past this point. People need to accept the necessity of living closer to their jobs or taking a train.
Bike lanes are a waste of tax dollars. When bikes are taxed like the rest of us to pay their way, I might feel different.
Otherwise, I am being taxed to fund someone else’s hobby...