A Sign of the Times

Getting mail still gives me a bit of joy these days - especially if it is mail that involves cycling.  It could be a tax receipt from the charity I ride for every summer or maybe it is the latest issue of the Adventure Cycling magazine.  Today it was a notice that the city is installing more bike routes in my area.  Reading the notice, I thought if nothing else it would give the snowplows somewhere new to dispose of snow in the winter.

New place to put snow

My son tells me that in his city, bike lanes were installed expressly for the purpose of making the road narrower and thereby slowing down traffic.  I intend to ask at a future meeting someone from the city's traffic department if that is the city's intention here. The new route they are planning is the very one that I take to and from work each day so I know the route very well and will be able to give input about any decisions to be made.

To quote the fancy brochure: "Public input will help identify any unknown issues or unique local uses...". Like the drainage problem on 95th Avenue.  Doesn't matter what time of year - summer rains, winter melts or spring thaws - the road becomes a lake and as cars shoot through the deep water gysers of wetness cascade from their wheelwells.  I stopped riding that section simply because of the danger of being overwhelmed by a Tsunami of coffee coloured meltwater.  With only 13 blocks out of 99 left to go in my commute, it would be a shame when I got home to have to strip off all my soaking bike gear before entering the house only to discover that I'd left my house key at work.  Stand on the porch naked and ring the doorbell or put the sodden clothes back on and wait for someone to come home?