Highway engineers have come up with plans for marking bicycle lanes on the MacArthur Causeway, the fast and scenic route from downtown Miami to South Beach. You may recall that 11 bicyclists were struck and injured on the causeway early one morning last August. They had been riding in the breakdown lane but veered around a bulb-out where that lane ended, and were run into by a taxi driver.
Plans that engineering consultant Julio Boucle showed the Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee this week, however, would have the causeway's motor lanes narrowed from 14 feet to 11, making room for a five-foot bike lane. Buses on the causeway would pull over to the right of the bike lane to drop and pick up passengers. The causeway lanes are scheduled to be restriped later this year anyway, as part of a resurfacing project.
Given the speeds I usually see on that causeway, I don't know that I'd favor riding there even with bike lanes. The Venetian Causeway, a few blocks to the north, also has bike lanes -- and traffic moves at a more reasonable pace. But as Mike Lydon observes at Transit Miami, the narrowed motor lanes will subtly moderate drivers' speed. And for strong and experienced riders, it might be OK. The best thing about this plan is that some people are always going to ride the MacArthur anyway, bike lanes or not, either from bravado, the appeal of the scenery or because they don't know the alternative route. The marked lanes and planned signage, I hope, will make everyone safer.
The MacArthur link two lines below will take you to earlier reporting about the causeway.
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