You have a point - delivery drivers don’t give a damn, time is money and the low risk of a ticket is worth less than getting in and out and on to another job. There has to be something physically in the way.
4 Likes
That’s why the striping just needs to be shifted left
Can’t without a buffer
1 Like
Completely agree with more dedicated bike infrastructure. I often bike down Salisbury next to the court house and often mix with traffic because of cars blocking. One problem I have with bike lanes is that it doesn’t really help with making a left which still causes me having to mix with traffic.
I’m also worried about biking down Hillsborough St next to NC State. There’s not enough room between traffic and the parked cars. I’m worried that I’ll see a door fly open and end right up into it.
8 Likes
Also with the students back taking the traffic circles at approximately the speed of light…
I’ve started riding a bike to work and it is certainly eye opening to just how terrifying the traffic is around the NC State campus. I was going to Centennial Campus from Main Campus the other day and witnessed a car accident literally next to me in the other lane on the Pullen bridge that goes over Western. There are some serious bike improvements that need to happen in this city.
10 Likes
I’ve been complaining about Hillsborough St. recently too. Finally got some attention from the local gov after I posted this thread about it: https://twitter.com/apbassett_nc/status/1567989361110847488?t=kJ1k5_FJ4D1Kpmqn0Gjo_A&s=19
Several important parties are on board with trying to fix it which gives me hope. The city owns the street from NCSU to downtown (as far as I can tell) and also the parallel parking spots. I think it’s a no-brainer to remove the parking in the most dangerous spots and shift the bike lanes over and protect them.
7 Likes
Full grown adults go through traffic circles on Hillsborough as well - while looking DIRECTLY at me coming through on my bike. Like if it’s not a car coming, they don’t have to stop. And this is even on weekends.
There was a post on Nextdoor a few weeks ago where a guy stopped on his bike to take a picture of a car parked in a bike lane in the general North Hills area and wanted to know what could be done about it. There were a ton of comments and the vast majority were anti-bike and anti-cyclist and showed a lot of ignorance regarding how to drive around cyclists. I had to mute the thread because it was scaring me to know there are people driving cars that seem to really hate people on bikes. I hope I never run across one when he/she is having a bad day.
5 Likes
You lost me at
but I kept reading and wasn’t surprised with your account of ignorance. Sad.
ps, you really shouldn’t put yourself through that 
8 Likes
I tend to think Hillsborough is one of our best streets for multi-modal lanes, or “vehicular cycling”.
I haven’t biked it a ton, but every time I have, it was a refreshing feeling to be on a lower volume, slower speed street. I tend to bike fast, so perhaps that’s the key for me is that I block the lane from passers and go 20mph until I get to a good opportunity to pull aside.
5 Likes
I had a feeling that thread came from someone on this forum, good work.
I’ve seen someone get “Doored” from a parked car opening their door without looking on Hillsborough and it’s really ugly. The door hyper extended and broke the window, the cyclists needed EMS, it was bad.
2 Likes
Didn’t someone die recently from this on Franklin St in Chapel Hill recently?
1 Like
Unfortunately they did, back in February.
1 Like
Getting doored is always the thing that makes me nervous riding on Hillsborough. I often find myself in the center of the car lane just to keep myself safe.
3 Likes
Yeah, there’s got to be a much more clear separation there. I’m a non-biker, and bikes darting in and out of traffic and riding in the car lane are incredibly annoying. While I’m not mad at the people on the bike (I get that it’s because they don’t really have any other place to go), it does get very frustrating, and bikes are more unpredictable and harder to spot than cars with clear rules of the road.
I can see how it drives people that grew up thinking of bikes as basically kids’ toys or hipster affectations nutty while they’re trying to get places.
In my experience, cars will honk at you if you’re not in the car-door danger zone.
Yeah I always feel bad doing this, and the roundabouts make it tough. Sure, there is a bike lane but it ends at the roundabout. So when is the best time to merge? Right at the last moment and hope you don’t get slammed by a car (because most won’t yield) or pretty far in advance just because there is an open spot but then hold up car traffic when there is an empty bike lane? 
As much as I love roundabouts for chilling out some street speeds, they stress me out on my bike. Has anyone seen any good solutions for this in other areas? I’m curious what they are planning for Lake Wheeler and if it’s more of the same or if they have ideas for the roundabouts.
1 Like
We have a friend who bikes everywhere and a motorist actually got out of his truck and beat our friend while stopped at a traffic light a couple of years ago. He was badly injured and spent the last few years in court trying to get his attacker thrown in jail. ETA: I think this happened on Person St near Oakwood.
I used to ride my bike to work before the pandemic and want to get back to it for my in-office days, but I feel like motorists in general have lost their damn minds since the pandemic started. So I would have to get up super early to avoid car traffic as much as possible, and that’s been a barrier for me.
7 Likes
If I’m approaching the roundabout and there’s any possibility of a merging conflict then I just don’t take the risk and sit where the bike lane ends until the cars go by or someone signals me. Sucks because it should be the opposite way, but I don’t really feel like getting run over.
Dutch-style roundabouts are the best, and I think the City is planning something like that for Lake Wheeler, but it would probably take a good bit of landscaping to reform the Hillsborough St. roundabouts to fit this model. It really should have been this way to begin with.
4 Likes
Did they get their attacker thrown in jail? 1 person one a bike should equate to one in a car especially at a stoplight. There would have been no difference.
2 Likes
I would like for it to have a speed limit of
15-20 here so bikes could take the full lane no problem.
I did take the Greenway all the way to work today with the exception of getting on Cabarrus St. Was really relaxing although it does prevent me from stopping by businesses on Hillsborough if I avoid it. I’m actually waiting for the bridge replacement to finish up across Mine Creek. I usually go the Five Points route because it’s shorter. Less traffic as well.
Bridge being replaced at Mine Creek.
3 Likes