Thread by @kettlemoraine

The U.S. has ~300 cities whose population exceeds 100K. Most of them have "buffered" (by PAINT: 0 protection) bike lanes, with the (car) #parking lane along the curb. SWITCH the bike & parked car lane, and you'd have traffic-calming and a MUCH safer #cycling experience. @PBOTinfo

I cannot stand seeing streets that are "improved" for "cyclists" by putting a wide bike lane *between* parked and moving cars. #Portland's N Denver Ave is a classic example. SWITCH the bike lane & car #parking lane; it solves many issues simultaneously! /2

Biking between the curb and parked cars means that there's almost *zero* car movement around you, outside of intersections. Door-zone biking is nearly eliminated--and if a passenger door does open, you're not thrown into car traffic. /3

And, again, most importantly, parking-protected bike lanes prevent you from having to bike *inches away* from speeding, distracted, careless drivers, with your only "protection" being PAINT. /4

Bike lanes "protected" by paint will NEVER attract a single member of the overwhelming majority of potential bike riders: the "interested but concerned." We need long, fully connected, *protected* #cycling lanes in every major city. Design for the 8-80, aka All Ages & Abilities.

#Montreal & #Vancouver, BC are WAY ahead of all major cities in the U.S. in implementing protected #cycling infrastructure. Montreal's instant network was TRIVIAL to create; they have almost zero driveways! Thus, they created a fully protected bike network almost overnight.

#Vancouver's recent progress is more impressive. Its land use is *nowhere near* as conducive to creating a massive protected cycling network as Montreal's is. But Vancouver has embraced its challenges and has massively leapfrogged #Seattle & #Portland.

#Vancouver, BC also has a higher population density than any U.S. city, save #NewYorkCity and #SanFrancisco. In fact, there are only nine *real #cities* in the U.S. & #Canada: NY, SF, #Boston, #Philadelphia, #Toronto, #Montreal, Vancouver, #Chicago, and #WashingtonDC.

My four criteria for a real city:

1. Population density > 10K/sq mile
2. <25% of #housing units are single-family detached
3. City @walkscore > 75
4. >15 commercial streets stretching >1/2 mile, close to high-freq transit, & not dominated by chain stores or ground-floor offices.