Bike lanes on Peachtree Road: Cyclists' paradise or hell on wheels?

This presentation shows that millenials want roads to be “right sized” and streets to be “complete.” Of course they do.

This presentation shows that millenials want roads to be “right sized” and streets to be “complete.” Of course they do.

From today's Bill Torpy at Large column:

In the pursuit of journalism, I tried to interview some cycling commuters during morning rush hour to discuss the plan to remove a lane of traffic and add bike lanes to Peachtree Road. But bicyclists are quick, nimble, a bit wary and generally hard to pin down.

I tracked one in my minivan for nearly four miles, from the heart of Buckhead to Midtown, watching his cantaloupe-sized calves furiously pump as he headed south. Stoplights, of course, were merely a suggestion. He ultimately lost me at 17th Street when a loading truck stopped traffic cold, enabling him to chug through the midst of the idling cars.

In the other camp, the driving public, there's the middle-aged man I spoke with at a shopping center, who called the bike-lane plan a nightmare.

“This is a highway with thousands of cars and they want to change everything for a few bicyclists while the rest of us are working 60 hours a week?!”

Today's Bill Torpy at Large column appears in full on our premium website, MyAJC.com.