I halt, forcing the line of traffic to stop while I enter the lane. One driver bumps his horn, irritated. Eden is sympathetic. In recent years, traffic engineers and city planners have recognized that bicycle commuting is integral to solving urban congestion and pollution, but for now, cyclists are stuck with a transportation infrastructure built almost exclusively for motorists. As Eden rolls east into downtown, he points out numerous examples that show how traffic planners have belittled or ignored cyclists' needs.
Bike lanes are discontinuous, poorly marked, and frequently blocked with parked cars.
Traffic lights do not change for bicycles, or change from green to red too quickly at intersections where cyclists are pedaling uphill. Crossing the bridge at South First, Eden describes how the original construction did not even leave cuts in the curb to allow bicyclists to get on and off, and how the cuts that were added now dump bikes into a blind curve. Finally, halting at a downtown intersection atop a hill on San Jacinto, Eden gestures at three blocks of freshly painted bike lane on one side of the street. Recumbent bicycle dealers Mike Librik and Amy Babich believe bikes make life in Austin sweeter. In another part of the city, East Austin resident Dolphin Salazar stops at an intersection he rides through every day at East 51st and Berkman.