Unnamed Sunday riding buddy and I ventured from our relatively proletarian neigborhoods (South Valley/Unnamed neighborhood north of UNM) and illegally, kinda, broke into Tanoan yesterday in a funny set of circumstances involving White Privilege (ours). That’s not the reason for this post, but it makes for too good of a “lede” to pass up.
What this post is really about is this:
Why does the Academy Blvd. bike lane stop eastbound at Ventura Blvd. at the western boundary of Tanoan? Is it because Academy has lousy bike lane width/protection anyway, especially considering the 40 mph posted, so who cares? Is it because the road narrows? In eyeballing it yesterday, I don’t think so. Or….
Does it have something to do with Tanoan…because…Tanoan?
It doesn’t make much sense, this Academy Gap, particularly given the number of cyclists who want to get to/from Tramway and the number of cyclists we saw on somewhat parallel roads to Academy puffing their way up the hill to Academy (e.g., San Rafael). I know the bike lane on Academy sucks, but, having tried itis sidewalk yesterday in the Gap portion, the sidewalk is no great shakes, either.
So, again, why does the Academy Gap exists?
Because my brain always tends to answer all questions, particularly regarding public policy, with the two, often interchangeable words “money” and “power,” I’ll admit my brain has gone to those words to explain this gap. Is that the reason?
I don’t get up in that neck of the woods prickly pears very often. Maybe one of you readers does and/or can tell me why the Gap exists. And yeah, a big part of me wants the reason to center on money/power.
Have a great week, everybody.
Better Burque 
Yes, I’d wager it has everything to do with Tanoan’s money & power. Yet is it really a win for Tanoan when Academy is an excessively fast and menacing 4-lane expressway with abruptly-disappearing bike lanes, while the alternate route, Spain, is a much nicer bike ride, a slower, quieter two-lane street with a wide, continuous bike lane from Wyoming to points east of Tramway?
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My theory is that it’s more a matter of timing. We start our story when there were no bike lanes anywhere on Academy:
a) The medians up by Tanoan were re-configured, you’ll notice that the grass is kept about 6 feet or so from the curb, when this was underway I remember thinking that it was great that they were narrowing the median so that they could add bike lanes, they didn’t.
b) Academy east from Ventura was redone to include narrowed, landscaped medians and bike lanes a few years later.
I think that the upgrade to Academy by Tanoan (narrowing the grass on the medians, but not moving the curbs) meant that it was too soon to rework it at the same time as the rest of the street.
I’m probably wrong. I don’t mean to minimize the political influence of relatively wealthy people with time on their hands.
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Dave: Thanks for both the history and thoughtful comment. My sense is that you’re right and that history helps better understand things (it usually does). Thanks also for reading! – Scot
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