Okay, planning bicycle routes for an entire city that has (virtually) none can't be an easy job. Still, I have to wonder that that bike czar in Omaha is thinking. I haven't seen a LOT of progress so far, but a few streets have been reconfigured to introduce a bike lane on the side.
Last winter, St Mary's underwent some major reconstruction between 29th and Leavenworth, about 3 blocks. It now has a bike lane on the right side … for 3 blocks. Where the bikes are supposed to come from to use that bike lane, or where they are supposed to be headed, I haven't figured out.
Further out on Leavenworth, the two-lanes-each-way has since been reconfigured into two lanes headed downtown and one lane headed out, to make way for a bike lane. This puts a bit of a crimp on the evening traffic that used to head out of downtown using Leavenworth, but I'm sure the bicyclists love it. The new bike lane appears around 53rd Street and continues all the way to 60th Street, where most of the automobile traffic turns south, but I believe the bike lane continues down the steep hill into the park. I suppose people might be willing to take their bikes into the park, but why/how did they all congregate at 53rd Street?
These bike lanes I've mentioned are one-way, headed west. I have not yet seen any bike lanes headed east. Is that a hidden message, like, "Go west, young bikers?" So, I suppose he's doing something during those 40 hours a week he supposedly is working. But it has been several months. I don't spend all my time driving around Omaha looking for bike lanes, but … how hard can it be to decide to put a bike lane here for 3 blocks, and another here for 6 or 7 blocks … and not bother to connect them up?
I don't know how much longer his 'grant' job is going to last, but I certainly hope Omaha sees more out of his office than this little bit of nonsense.
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