Having that deep crack where the concrete kerb meets the asphalt road right in the center of the lane is also destabilizing. Especially for those of us with narrow tyres.

I believe the technical term for these (from Britain) are “Crap Cycle Lanes”. This was a fun book to read:
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/crap-cycle-lanes-a-great-read-13492/

Most of the bike lanes in Silicon Valley are like this. Including some which, like this Albuquerque example, are too narrow to fit the bike stencil, but instead of breaking the line they just stencil it onto the gutter.

They are built like a gutter and so they are used as a gutter (full of debris, bins on garbage day, signs about upcoming construction in the left lane, etc).

Often on multi-lane roads with 45mph speed limits (and 55mph traffic).

Cities should’t get away with painting some bike stencils in a gutter and patting themselves on the back for creating “bike infrastructure”, but there it is.

I believe the gutter is needed because of flow of rainwater would damage the more delicate asphalt. Of course, there would not be such a need for water management if we didn’t need 12 lanes of 16 foot wide lanes.

Of course, most insultingly, in my region, our engineers consider the gutter perfectly acceptable to meet the minimum bike lane widths, but car lanes must be the minimum width outside of the gutter.

Typical – A bike lane installed to get cyclists out of the way of motorists. Heaven forbid a motorist has to change lanes and pass a cyclist.

Sharrows and BMUFL signs are appropriate. But that would mean the City of Albuquerque acknowledge that cyclists have equal rights to access the road.

I’d prefer to see the concrete area increased by several feet to encompass the entire bike lane so it creates a single, smooth surface while still resisting rainwater damage. Plus, it would better prevent asphalt damage at bus stops, I’d think.

P.S. I can never figure out how Google Maps embedding works here, so here’s a screenshot. As a bonus, notice the shitty ugly plastic fencing they put in to keep people from walking across the grass (which I suspect was really an attempt to force people to stick to the paths that guide them to crosswalks).

And as a double bonus this is right by the bike lane utilization counter they made a big deal of unveiling: http://la.streetsblog.org/2016/12/20/santa-monica-to-open-real-time-bike-traffic-counter-on-main-street/

It’s just baffling how consistently Santa Monica gets these details wrong.

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a8fdcfdbcde445a07ad7220e276d5f50997c5d066a0e735968d681d5a71a53e1.png

The gutter pan can actually be a benefit to the bicyclist IF the designers abide by standards/guidelines. AASHTO explicitly states that the longitudinal joint presents a hazard and unless it can be maintained flush and uniform with the pavement edge (it can’t over time) more width should be provided (4′ of rideable surface). Thus, with a typical 2′ gutter pan and 4′ of pavement, a standard bike lane should be 6′ from face of curb, as opposed to the typical 5′. The gutter accumulates debris, so the extra foot provides that space, and also allows more separation from the adjacent travel lane.

Yes, this the main point. If the motor vehicle lanes need gutter, fine, do whatever need to be done. But the bicycle lane should be thought of as a second sidewalk, i.e. elevated with a curb above the height of the motor vehicle lanes. Not only does this provide protection, but all the debris from the road stays in the road and doesn’t end up in the bike lane. This is actually one of the most overlooked reasons for having curb-separated bike lanes. This is the standard in place like the Netherlands (e.g. https://bicycledutch.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/reitscheweg-4.jpg) and there is no reason it can’t also be the standard here.

Just found out it was a contractor error and will fixed. Let’s not overlook the really important thing here – the Girard Corridor just got a much improved multimodal makeover: https://www.cabq.gov/council/projects/neighborhood-projects/girard-boulevard-complete-streets-master-plan

I’m flabbergasted that anyone still sees sharrows as ‘appropriate’. In my experience, they are nothing more than checking off a box for a municipality to become ‘bike friendly’ while achieving not a shred on the road.

Do you really think most cities can afford another million dollars per mile for 2 way, wide, elevated, painted, bike lanes? Fix all the ADA sidewalks and curb ramps first. If anything is left over for bikes, fine. ADA was passed 27 years ago and is Fed law.