A loyal reader sent in this picture of Robinson Avenue going north:
The city has taken what was a four lane road and narrowed it to two.
According to a March 7, 2018 city news release:
This project with an approximate budget of $2.7 million is part of the City of El Paso’s commitment
to improve El Paso’s regional comprehensive transportation system.
According to a June 29, 2016 city news release:
As part of the project, new hike and bike trails will also be constructed, and new landscaping, irrigation, illumination, ADA compliant
sidewalks and curbs will be added to area.
Both ways
Evidently the bike crowd gets to have the “bike trail” off to the right as well as the right to ride on the street where there are double yellow lines prohibiting passing.
If you get stuck behind a bicyclist going up the road you cannot pass him.
“commitment to improve”, my foot.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
What frustrates me is that I never see cyclists in these lanes. Instead they are riding 3 or 4 abreast on two lane roads with no little or no shoulder. Virtually all are recreational cyclists, meaning they aren’t locked in to commute. They complain they don’t have bike lanes, the city spends a fortune modifying roads and then the cyclists don’t use them, complaining there isn’t enough separation from cars or the road has debris or is rough. Yet the places many of them choose to ride instead have all those problems. Until cyclists start using what the taxpayers are giving them, I think we should stop building bike lanes.
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Why don’t we have bike trails away from vehicular traffic, if we lack bike commuters?
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I very rarely see anyone riding a bicycle. When I do it seems to be recreational, unless they wear all that bicycling gear to work. The tremendous amount of money being spent for what is actually an indulgence in exercise or a hobby is ridiculous.
Never has so much been spent by so many to benefit so few.
Unless you look at the ever-increasing cost of public transportation, namely Sun Metro. There is another area where the local politicians seem to be ignoring reality while spending money like it doesn’t come from people who work for a living.
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Why doesn’t the city make cyclists pay for permits to offset the costs of all the bicycle lanes?
Cars have to be registered, which, in theory, pays for the roads.
In reality politicians spend that money on other things and have bond elections to raise $100 millions for roads, then spend that money on other things as well. Like a mini-social security plan, they keep saying the money is for one thing but spending it on unrelated things.
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The bike crowd reportedly told the planners that riding on the wide bike and pedestrian lane built next to the traffic lane of Robinson was too dangerous as it was not wide enough (although they seem to be able to share space on the bike and walk path going down Brown from Kerbey). City policy now seems to be that just about every road is a bike road. Alameda has signs along it indicating to bicycle riders that they can take the full lane…and this is a state highway. It seems to me that this is a very dangerous setup. (Check out the intersection of Baltimore and Stanton, where some genius has drawn bicycle paths crossing directly in front of south-bound cars on Stanton.)
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And at the time cyclists made that presentation, the city was going to stop doing bike lanes that weren’t physically segregated from traffic (as in curb or poles) because supposedly that was what biking communities in other cities had moved to. Now we are back to striping roads. Cyclists seem to have a problem with that, cars have a problem with that. The only folks that see it as a good idea work for the city.
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Bikes were a big part of my youth and I also delivered papers by bike. I never had a bike lane. I did know that I had to share the road and obey traffic lights and stop signs, something local bikers do not do. I’m yet to see a person on a bicycle pulled over by an El Paso police officer.
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It looks like the bike lane on the right is wider than the left lane for cars.
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90% of the time it is TOO HOT to commute to work in El Paso via bicycle. They’d be one-sweaty-mess when they got to work.
The only bikes I see are recreational and only Sat. and Sun. mornings.
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In a long, long ago speech widely covered by the media, President Kennedy once said:
“Ask not what your Country can do for you, but what you can do for your Country.”
El Paso’s bike crowd has reversed the meaning of that long ago speech to now mean:
“Ask not what you can do for your Country, but what your Country (city) can do for you.”
The sad thing about many of the already installed city bike lanes, is taxpayers can see they get little use. In the meantime the city has many shitty streets with pot holes and badly faded stripping.
Add to that shitty equation, that now on your El Paso Water Utilities monthly bill, is a new monthly $3 charge “to fund much needed street repairs throughout El Paso.” That’s an extra $36 per year charge the city hid in your EPWU bill, that they did not want to hit you for on your city tax bill.
Where is El Paso’s so called valiant, outspoken news media on these transparency and oversight matters?
Aren’t there still two city council races that require a run off election?
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Riding a bike is healthy…too bad we have few bikers 😦
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Brutus why dont you try some facts. Robinson ave was never ever a 4 lane road. Ever. The bike community insisted it would be dangerous to share a bike lane with pedestrians at multiple meetings
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So, if Brutus is wrong then it’s even more absurd to let cyclists demand so much of Robinson. I would like to share with the biking community that things with them seem to be a one-way street. I am sick and tired of seeing cyclists disregard laws and ordinances. When cyclists start showing some respect for others, maybe I will be more interested in their demands.
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I apologize. I was incorrect about the number of lanes.
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Brutus,
You seem to have touched a nerve. Strongest reaction in weeks.
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