Main Road vs. Side Road

[Albigensia]

Thanks to the vagaries of geography and surveying in Cincy, in order
to commute anywhere, you have to inevitably cross a "choke point."
This is where the side roads give out and you have to take a main road
to cross an interstate or another major road.

After a bad accident on taking main roads, I found a rather convoluted
path taking side roads through most of my route. It's a little slower,
but I'm not sure if it's any safer, since there's a lot of parked cars
and drivers not looking for bikes.

Not counting the "bike routes," do you have a preference when you
commute? Do you try to take side roads when you can, or just keep to
the more direct, busier main road?

[Jim Coppock]

Sorry to hear about your crash but glad it hasn't stopped you from riding.
Can you share your convoluted route?

Long time cyclist Ed Hess swore by the minor streets. I have a map of his
route from Hyde Park to GE/Evendale if anyone's interested. From Hyde Park
toward UC or downtown, I have met strong riders who use
Edwards-Grandin-OBryon-Fairfax etc to avoid Madison Road. Other parallel
minor routes that are recommended on the Bike Route Guide are Hillside
(River Road), University/Lincoln (M.L. King), Millsbrae/Woodland (Edwards).
I imagine some people switch back to the main streets after rush hour is
over.

Another aspect of side streets is that they can bring you to cross main
streets at unsignalized intersections or to traffic signals with unhelpful
detection loops. During the recent Cincinnati Bicycle Transportation Plan
work, the consultant looked for opportunities to create bike boulevards,
which uses minor streets. They only came up with a couple of ideas.
Jim Coppock

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Cincinnati Bicycle Commuters" group.
> To post to this group, send email to bike...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> bikecincy+...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/bikecincy?hl=en.
>
>

[Kelly]

I take side roads almost exclusively. I can usually find side roads
that parallel the main roads, so they don't add that much time to my
travel.The OKI route guides are very useful -- when I take routes that
are marked in blue in those guides, I've found that the motorists seem
to be more accustomed to seeing and interacting with cyclists. You do
have to be diligent about leaving enough clearance to not get "doored"
by parked cars, and you often have to be willing to take the lane if
there is not enough room for a car to pass safely.

There is a short section on my regular commute where I have to take
Spring Grove / Vine for about a half a mile, and I don't like riding
in that much traffic. Plus, I've had a couple of scary encounters with
drivers along there (one guy tailgated me within inches of my rear
wheel while revving his engine, two people have shouted at me to "get
off the f*cking road," and one woman threw a cup full of soda at me).
My solution has been to remind myself that these were very unusual
encounters compared to my average ride -- and to pedal really fast
through there. :-)

My biggest problems with learning to commute in Cincinnati have had
more to do with driver attitudes (or lack of education) and the
endless HILLS. I should probably get more involved in helping to
address the first problem -- and the second problem only makes me
stronger.

Happy cycling,
Kelly

[Albigensia]

Jim,

On Sep 24, 3:54 am, "Jim Coppock" <urbanfelic...@fuse.net> wrote:
> Sorry to hear about your crash but glad it hasn't stopped you from riding.
> Can you share your convoluted route?

Sure - my old route was from work along MLK / Madison to Ridge, then
jumping north over the interstate to Kennedy to get up the hill,
turning east on Woodford (?) to when it turned north and became
Plainfield... then following that until I hit Hunt Rd and went home.

I've been experimenting with some new routes, but the jist is that I
still get on MLK / Madison until Dana (or a little before), cut across
the interstate, cut across some railroad tracks, and then reach Floral
Rd in Norwood. Very nice road to take, runs the length of Norwood;
very beautiful houses. Then I cut over to Forest Rd to cross the
Lateral, cut over to Beech to then turn right on Highland. To get up
the hill, I turn north onto Lester and get up to Montgomery.
Unfortunately it's either brave Ridge Rd to get home or take
Montgomery - and trust me, Montgomery's safer... and flatter.
Montgomery gets me to Plainfield again in Silverton. I take that north
to Galbraith, where I proceed to cut off into the subdivision instead
of following Plainfield, and there's a road that crosses the Reagan
where I go a little off-road to get home.

How's that for convoluted? :)
Marcus

[Tom Glascock]

Highland and Lester are much safer than ridge.

There's also "old" red bank which is safer still than ridge.

[Albigensia]

On Oct 1, 1:41 pm, Tom Glascock <denta...@gmail.com> wrote:
> There's also "old" red bank which is safer still than ridge.

True, although Red Bank is a bear to get up. It's not one of my
favorite choices to get "up the hill" that is Blue Ash. Kennedy's
pretty good, because it's a steep hill, but it flattens out again
quick.

[Tom Glascock]

I hate Kennedy because it's skinny and lots of cars.

--