Bike Lanes

The City of Davis has many Bike Lanes for bicyclists to use. The Bicycle History Presentation covers the historic development of these lanes. In addition to the bike lanes there are Bike Paths, Greenbelts, Bike Overpasses, Bike Tunnels and many other resources for bicycles in town.

Davis was the first city in America to have modern bike lanes.

Most major roads have bike lanes, with the exception of Fifth Street. Residential streets often don't have bike lanes, but have so little traffic to begin with that they're not really necessary. Additionally, most country roads that leave town also have bike lanes, and it's not uncommon to hear of people commuting by bike from nearby towns like Dixon, Woodland or Winters.

List any bike lane-less streets here, along with any alternate route you know of.

Fifth Street in Downtown (A to L Streets). Just use any other street like 4th, 3rd, or 8th to get across this busy section.

Ideally, cycle in bike lanes much as you would drive in a car:

• Ride single-file, and in a straight, predictable line.
  

• Faster cyclists should pass on the left (closer to the car lane) when it is safe to do so.
  

• Thus, slower cyclists should stay as close to the curb as is safe to let faster cyclists pass and avoid getting hit by a car.
  

• Be sure to avoid the door zone when passing parallel-parked cars. There are many places downtown where bike lane is adjacent to parked cars, and riders should stay far enough left to avoid being hit by doors flung open by unwatchful car occupants.

For folks from areas without a significant cycling population, you may have to review some laws that you last heard about years ago in drivers ed.

• You are not allowed to drive in a bike lane, unless you are making a right-hand turn, at which point you can merge near your turn. If you do this, you really do need to check your side-view mirrors and blind spot.
  

• On streets with no bike lanes (like Fifth Street), cyclists are allowed to use the full lane.
  

• If a cyclist is keeping up with the flow of traffic on a street with a bike lane, the cyclist may ride in the standard lane.
  

• Even though many streets have bike lanes, sometimes they are not wide enough to accommodate cyclists and cars parked curbside. Additionally, there may be other obstructions in the bike lane, like yard waste or recycling bins. Thus, drivers should keep an eye on the bike lane so that cyclists that veer onto the main road don't get hit.

• Hutchison Drive Bike Lanes

Comments:

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2008-10-22 21:15:33   Be Happy you guys have such an incredibly friendly bike town! I live over in Sonoma County and am really just getting into biking in my fifties. A lot of the roads over here are just brutal to ride on. You're really lucky to have a bike lane and when you do, it's only about 3 feet wide. I was amazed to see bike lanes on 8th, etc that seemed like 6 or more feet wide! —DouglasHall