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Rantwick started it. But here's my very own road I love to hate, and it's one reason I can't get enthusiastic about bike paths. Maybe those are fine for urban oases or for recreational types, but commuters go point-to-point. I want smooth roads, or at least roads that don't shake the fillings out of my teeth.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: Westport Parkway, shortly east of Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, (yes, the same Fort Worth that's just now proposing a new bike plan which somehow misses Alliance). Other than the Alliance Gateway Freeway, this is the only road available to a cyclist east of Fort Worth Alliance Airport. This is the NICE portion of the road, it gets nastier once you get east of Old Denton Road. Hotter, too.
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4 comments:
That is a road in serious need of repair. What's traffic like on that road?
Yup. Traffic is fairly heavy at times because it's a short cut for motorists, and the southern boundary of Alliance Airport.
The upper portion gets worse. Besides the rough surface, traffic gets heavier, and it picks up an ugly double yellow line that, combined with heavier traffic, makes passing more difficult, but the motorists do it safely. School's out now, but school busses drive along the upper road and the only way they can pass going uphill is if I find and take advantage of a safe place to get off the road.
See why I wanted to know what the FW bicycle plans were around Alliance? Despite the road, there are three regular cyclists in our building that come that way, and I've seen other commute cyclists on the road. For reasons known only to themselves, recreational cyclists often ride those roads on the weekends. Myself, I go to downtown FW for SMOOTH roads. I LOVE to cruise down Houston Street.
Smooth(ish) roads. No parallel drainage gates (even though I don't ride there, I feel a need to look out for gutter-bunnies). Bicycle-sensitive loop detectors.
Drainage! We don need no steenkin drainage!
PM's loops are certainly sensitive. Most people I've seen carefully ride in the slightly smoother RH "light pavement."
I concluded that for THIS particular road, my track of choice is the light area in between the two black/tar tire stripes, roughly a foot to the left of the "ridge." Further right, and life is brutal. Further left and motorists pass closer than desirable, due to the narrow total road width. They also get overcautious & jumpy about passing. Never a good thing.
A lane position quiz about this road would be pretty boring. ON THE OTHER HAND, it DID lead me to riding the Alliance Gateway Freeway. But that will be saved for a future post.
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No Need for Non-Robot proof here!