In last week's Road Crew chat on STLtoday.com, I asked the following question:
Is St. Louis County against the inclusion of on-street bicycle facilities on it's roads? I was looking over the maps in the recently completed St. Louis Bike Plan and noticed that there's nary a mile of sharrows or dedicated bike lanes on St. Louis County maintained roads included in the plan. I only see road segments designated as "wide outside lane", "paved shoulder", or "needs further analysis"; nothing that would require paint on the road.
David Wrone, spokesman for the St. Louis County Department of Highways and Traffic, replied:
As a matter of policy, we don't build dedicated bike lanes. St. Louis County salutes the bike-riding community, but we manage our system in the knowledge that motor vehicles comprise the vast majority of our customer base. The ground and money aren't available to provide 'Bike Only" travel lanes.
Words fail me.
