US 441 is a very important road that effectively divides Gainesville between east and west (although it is, within Gainesville's street grid, West 13th Street). The University of Florida lies on this road, as does Gainesville High School. I live within a mile of it on the north side of town (I always seem to find myself living near 441). And, for the most part, this street is bicycle friendly.
And bicycle friendly it should be, since my local government has invested a lot of money in creating bicycle lanes all across town. US 441 is no exception. As you can see in the top picture, taken on the north side of town near the former site of Dub's (where Tom Petty, former Gainesville High School geek, used to perform in the early 70's with his fledgling rock band). Very wide and accommodating for bicycles, wouldn't you say? This nice pathway continues southbound, all the way to Northwest 23rd Avenue. Then it disappears (unless you have a very, very thin bicycle). The bottom picture, taken by Gainesville High (where Tom Petty attended---hey wait a minute, get out of my blog, Petty), shows this. So just when someone would actually need a bicycle lane to get down on a busy street (and by the high school the sidewalk is often crowded with pedestrians), there is none. Maybe they felt that they couldn't fit one in, with the overall road space possibly too thin there. But there IS a good bike path going northbound along the same stretch. They could at least have fudged just a little and provided SOME space for southbound bicyclists.
You may wonder what the big deal is, anyway, seeing that there is a good concrete sidewalk running along the street in both pictures. But recently a law has been passed here mandating bicyclists to use the designated bike lanes instead of the sidewalks, unless of course there isn't a bike lane. Now I ask, is that a bike lane in front of Gainesville High? Maybe it is, to a cop... who knows. Not that I see the police dishing out tickets wholesale to "violators". But it does give them another pretext to profile, stop, and harass citizens that they might regard as "undesirables".
I don't suppose that very many people are bothered by the amazing shrinking bicycle path. After all, my local rag The Gainesville Sun hasn't printed any protesting editorial letters to this effect. Still, dudes, what would Tom say if he saw this? (Hey Petty, I told you to scram... stop jamming me!)
And bicycle friendly it should be, since my local government has invested a lot of money in creating bicycle lanes all across town. US 441 is no exception. As you can see in the top picture, taken on the north side of town near the former site of Dub's (where Tom Petty, former Gainesville High School geek, used to perform in the early 70's with his fledgling rock band). Very wide and accommodating for bicycles, wouldn't you say? This nice pathway continues southbound, all the way to Northwest 23rd Avenue. Then it disappears (unless you have a very, very thin bicycle). The bottom picture, taken by Gainesville High (where Tom Petty attended---hey wait a minute, get out of my blog, Petty), shows this. So just when someone would actually need a bicycle lane to get down on a busy street (and by the high school the sidewalk is often crowded with pedestrians), there is none. Maybe they felt that they couldn't fit one in, with the overall road space possibly too thin there. But there IS a good bike path going northbound along the same stretch. They could at least have fudged just a little and provided SOME space for southbound bicyclists.
You may wonder what the big deal is, anyway, seeing that there is a good concrete sidewalk running along the street in both pictures. But recently a law has been passed here mandating bicyclists to use the designated bike lanes instead of the sidewalks, unless of course there isn't a bike lane. Now I ask, is that a bike lane in front of Gainesville High? Maybe it is, to a cop... who knows. Not that I see the police dishing out tickets wholesale to "violators". But it does give them another pretext to profile, stop, and harass citizens that they might regard as "undesirables".
I don't suppose that very many people are bothered by the amazing shrinking bicycle path. After all, my local rag The Gainesville Sun hasn't printed any protesting editorial letters to this effect. Still, dudes, what would Tom say if he saw this? (Hey Petty, I told you to scram... stop jamming me!)
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