A sunny and mild day in January, a welcome break from recent rains: What better time for a little demonstration of how bike lanes make cycling more feasible on roads that carry a lot of cars and trucks.
This is the last period of the fall when Republic Services picks up piles of leaves left on Albany streets. Pointing this out also highlights how impossible it is to carry out the city’s advice on just how and where to pile up leaves.
In Oregon law there’s an offense called “failure to use a bicycle lane or path.” It’s a Class D traffic violation, but there’s no practical way to enforce it. And the Albany Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission last month agreed to recommend education rather than trying to hit violators with tickets.
We’re looking north on Madison Street in Albany from the intersection of Fourth Avenue. It’s one of several points on Madison where green paint is intended to make for fewer crashes involving bicycles and cars.
 Every now and then, somebody on the Albany City Council will wonder out loud if anything can be done about bicyclists ignoring the traffic laws or otherwise acting stupid. It happened again last week.
Bill Clotere, a reader in North Albany, had a suggestion for a “topic for a boring day”: Trash cans in the bike lanes, sometimes left there long after the pick-up day has passed.
Seen up close, those sewer grates are safe
Friday’s short video tour of bike lanes along Highways 20 and 99E (Albany’s Santiam Highway and Pacific Boulevard) caused a least a couple of viewers to worry about the sewer grates as they flashed by.
Tags: Albany highways, bike lanes, cycling, Pacific Boulevard, Santiam Highway, storm sewer grates