Access Atlanta > The Newcomer > Archives > 2008 > July > 10 > Entry
Atlanta’s Best and Worst Bike Routes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Even if you’ve done the impossible and memorized an Atlanta map in your first months here, you probably didn’t learn the topography, or the potholes. Alas, the map doesn’t show where drivers speed or where the bikes lanes end.
Right about the time I thought I knew where I was going, my car went boom, a bike was left in its place and my delusions of geographic confidence were dashed. My petite four-cylinder engine climbed easily on the inclines around my apartment, but a chain, two wheels and my wimpy, languid calf muscles, mixed up with a bunch of cars and bikers in moisture-wicking bodywear?
Well, I didn’t cry, exactly. On the outside.
The Atlanta Bicycle Campaign conducted its first count of cyclists at eight locations around the city this month, looking at the who, where and how of Atlanta biking. An AJC story by Mike Maciag said some riders skimp on personal safety equipment and even long-time bikers have trouble negotiating the best routes for easy, safe, direct travel.
And let’s be honest: what happens now that gas prices go up and people inexperienced with biking and Atlanta are trying out a much different vehicle?
Here are a few options:
Practice: Rebecca Serna, the Bicycle Campaign executive director, suggests riding a route on a Saturday or Sunday before you attempt it for the Monday morning commute. Know the potholes, know the parallel grates, know when it doesn’t work and you need another plan.
Education: The Atlanta Bicycle Campaign offers classes on Confident Country Cycling and Confident City Cycling, which cover safety inspections, tire-changing, crash avoidance, lane positioning and trail etiquette, among other topics.
Maps: ABC links to bike mobility maps to help with navigation, and ATrain has a build-your-own feature for to walk, bike or use transit. (ABC’s downtown and midtown maps are being updated now, and should be available within a month.)
Bicycle Campaign survey results tallying the best and and worst bike routes are expected to be released in about two weeks, but already some favorites are clear. There’s Edgewood Avenue — the street pictures above — which has a long bike lane that connects residential neighborhoods and downtown. The intersection of Moreland and Euclid in Little Five Points was popular, but also had a lot of cyclists riding illegally on sidewalks.
Peachtree Street is a personal favorite of Serna’s. Pedestrian activity makes it fun, traffic moves slowly because it’s so heavy and there’s power in numbers: Serna’s not the only one that loves it.
What do you say, geography-lovers, biker-riders and sympathetic drivers: what are the best and worst routes for biking, whether for fun or for commuting? And what’s the best way to get to know these roads?
And remember: if you have other questions, about just about anything Atlanta-ish, leave ‘em in the comments or email me at jgumbrecht@ajc.com. We’re back to our regularly scheduled Friday Q&A this week.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: Getting Around
Comments
By RYAN
July 10, 2008 7:16 PM | Link to this
I look forward to the comments. I have been looking for some time a safe place to ride that is near the Cascade Road area.
By bikealot
July 10, 2008 10:02 PM | Link to this
Worst.
Virtually every where else that does not have a bike lane. You could lose your life.
By Jen
July 10, 2008 10:30 PM | Link to this
I bike from Candler Park to Emory. It’s only 3.5 miles but it’s pretty easy. I will be biking to Corporate Square soon (85 and N Druid Hills). I’ve got to try it out on some weekends first, though.
I bike rain or shine and only drive my car to run errands, mostly on the weekends.
I wish we had a lot more PATH in the city….
By M
July 10, 2008 10:37 PM | Link to this
Lindbergh from Peachtree to Piedmont is one of the worst. Why? Because when the city should be doing what it can to encourage cycling, instead, it made Lindbergh narrower, much less safe for cyclists.
By Chris
July 11, 2008 7:19 AM | Link to this
Always remember, no matter whose fault it was when a car hits you, the police will find a way for it to be your fault for being a bicyclist. This happens again and again and again. Also, if you don’t require a trip to the hospital, the police don’t care what a car did to you. That is the sorry state of affairs in this place.
By Jen
July 11, 2008 8:24 AM | Link to this
This is a bit off topic but…I bike my son over to gymnastics camp in Decatur from Candler Park (not every day, about 3 x a week). We get on PATH at Rocky Ford and Dekalb coming from McLendon. We take PATH all the way to S McDonough, cut through Agnes Scott, then through Winnona Park to S Columbia. The camp is on Talley.
Whenever we cross Dekalb, the tracks, S McDonough, Candler, and S Columbia we get off our bikes and wlak them across. Because my son is 7 and not ready to negotiate that kind of traffic on his bike.
A few days ago we were coming back, crossing Dekalb at Rocky Ford to get back into the Lake Claire neighborhood. I pushed the button for the walk signal, waited for the signal, and we started walking our bikes across Dekalb. Some really nasty driver was making a turn onto Dekalb and came ANYWAY while my son and I were crossing. She screeched to a stop and threw her hands up as if we had done something incredibly stoopid. WE HAD THE WALK SIGNAL!
Did she care that we had the right of way? No.
Did she care there was a child crossing the street? No.
All she cared about was that someone was in her way.
Pedestrians in this town don’t get any respect, either.
By John Tckett
July 11, 2008 8:27 AM | Link to this
My bike commute takes me from East Point to Lindbergh AT&T building. I take Main St / Lee St to Trinity. I then turn onto Peachtree from Trinity (near Garnett MARTA station) and stay on Peachtree until Lindbergh. On some occasions I stay on Peachtree to either Pharr Rd or Piedmont before heading to my office at the AT&T Lindbergh building.
The section of Peachtree between 10th and 14th is the worst due to all the building going on. The area near SCAD and EQUIFAX can be bad as well, but they are working on finalizing the road work so it is getting better.
The number of cyclist I see on the road is increasing. In regards to my rights as a cyclist and pedestrain, I can be va bit aggressive towards those that are ignorant of those rights. But I follow the rules (and laws) of the road, have lights on bothe front and back of my bike, and always wear a helemt. I wasamazed to learn how little is spent in classroom training in regards to cyclist and pedestrians and thier rights on the road.
I do have a question for MARTA.. How come ther are no bike racks at the Lindbergh station, or MARTA HQ building? For that fact, there seem to be very few bike racks at many of the MARTA stations. I see bikes chained up the station fences bit in and outside the station. I ask because of the following quote from MARTA website “Bike and transit integration supports both transit and bicycle transportation. bicycle and transit integration has proven successful in attracting new riders and transit agencies find that a significant portion of rack users consist of new transit riders.”
And MARTA, how about marking the designated area for bikes on your trains so that other partron are aware and don’t get made any me when I move my bike it that area? Since it is not marked, it can be difficult in asking people to move out of that area (The front and back area of the traine, behind the operator area.) Especially when your own website has the following safety tip - “Please keep your bike out of the aisle and away from the train door.”
Great Blog by the way
By CBL
July 11, 2008 8:35 AM | Link to this
Piedmont between Peachtree Road and the park is terrible. The road is not only torn up and full of holes, wide seams, debris, and telephone poles that are almost in the road, but the lanes are narrow too. The only way I would ride on it is with a group and take up an entire lane for safety. Peachtree could be okay once they are done paving it and you can keep up with traffic. Mount Paran, West Paces would be good, but only if you ride fast- no slow leisure riding. PATH needs to put in some more trails that connect the parks.
By Todd
July 11, 2008 9:19 AM | Link to this
I’m happy to see much more awareness about bicycling as a commute alternative.
Check out [http://bicyclesafe.com/] for more tips on riding in traffic.
Another tip: A route you practice on Saturday or Sunday without traffic may be completely different during weekday commute times. Be prepared to modify your route.
By Chris
July 11, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this
I find that using google earth and google maps helps me map out good commuting routes. My favorite routes have low traffic, low speed limits, tree cover and speed bumps or humps to keep the traffic at or below the limit. These routes usually go through older established neighborhoods.
By Keith Pearlstein
July 11, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this
ANyone riding a bike on a busy street in Atlanta is an idiot. Roads are for cars people. Atlanta has roughly 8,000,000 people in the general area and traffic is bad. Add in old roads, narrow roads, poorly maintained roads and tons of drivers and you get a bad atmosphere for biking. Move to Seaside or Peachtree City or Key West or Hilton head if you want to ride a bike everywhere. Don’t drive in MY neighborhood and complainabout the biking conditions. MY neighborhood doesn’t want you gumming up the works.
By Jay
July 11, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this
Keith Pearlstein, every reason you gave for why people shouldn’t ride bicycles on “your” streets and in “your” neighborhood are exactly the reasons why I think more people should ride bikes and not drive cars. It’s really very simple. More bikes will mean fewer cars. With fewer cars, traffic gets lighter and the roads are easier to maintain. Please get over yourself and your “MY MY MY” mindset and start realizing that these aren’t your streets, neighborhoods, city and air. All these things belong to everyone. You claiming it for yourself and and making it dirty with your car is just rude.