I wholeheartedly agree with Shawn Pidcock’s July 22 letter “Debris in bike lanes dangerous.” I commute by bike on the west side of Vancouver starting near Felida and heading south down Lakeshore Avenue and Fruit Valley Road and then east along Mill Plain Boulevard to Fort Vancouver Way. The first part of my commute is relatively debris-free, but once I hit Mill Plain Boulevard, it’s as if a gravel truck drove along the road with the tailgate open while throwing glass bottles into the bike lane. I often have to ride into the vehicle lane of travel to avoid large patches of gravel, glass, bits of metal or other debris. I’ve already had several flat tires along my commuting route.
The condition of the bike lanes actually serves to discourage commuting by bike rather than encourage it. A twice-monthly schedule of street sweeping along some of these arterials during the dry season would be a great service to everyone in Clark County trying to do their small part to be a little more green in their daily commute.
Darryl Luther
Vancouver
