Dear Mahatma: I forward to you a section of Little Rock city ordinance Chapter 32, Article VIII, Section 32-489. It says in the last sentence that if there is a usable path for bicycles adjacent to a roadway, bikers shall use such path and not use the roadway. -- Downtown Lawyer
Dear Downtown: Our readers know a lot more than we do -- yeah, right, a low bar -- and are greatly helpful when we're stumped about something complicated. Like the law.
This should, at least in Little Rock, answer the perplexing question of whether bicyclists have to use bike lanes when they are available. Quoth the ordinance: "Whenever a usable path for bicycles has been provided adjacent to a roadway bicycle riders shall use such path and shall not use the roadway."
According to Downtown, he also called the city attorney's office and confirmed that the ordinance remains in effect. Ah, but neither life nor bicycling is a simple matter. The paths in question, along Pinnacle Valley Road near Two Rivers Park, are outside Little Rock's city limits.
Turn now to another voice, that of -- holy cow! -- another lawyer, this one from Newport: "Regarding unused bicycle paths [near] Two Rivers Park, the more likely explanation for non-use would become self-evident if one attempts said use. The quality of construction was poor from the beginning and has only gotten worse with the passage of time (tree roots)."
Note the word "usable" in the city ordinance. Tree roots could render a bike path unusable. Perhaps reasonable people can agree on that.
Speaking of reasonable people, here comes our old friend Courteous Happy Biker.
"I know you don't really like to spend too much time talking about those who ride bikes, but we're not all bad people," Courteous writes.
"I am a bike enthusiast who happily rides alone on the River Trail and at Two Rivers Park -- as far to the right as I can possibly and safely exist. In the June 17 column, Rita wondered why the law didn't require bike riders to use the paths separated from the road by drainage ditches. I have tried many times to use these paths to avoid the cars that speed along that section of road. The paths are on either side of a straight section of Pinnacle Valley Road which is near -- but not part of -- Two Rivers Park. These side paths are in terrible condition. They have cracks in the asphalt, rocks and gravel often strewn about, and they cross multiple private driveways."
We rest her case. And change the subject.
Our best source, Deep Asphalt, has news about a couple of things.
First, the Big Piney rest stop on Interstate 40 near Russellville is open. Only now it's a Tourist Information Center, with self-service kiosks that give road conditions and information about local restaurants and attractions. And baby-changing stations.
Second, some of the pedestrian part of the Broadway bridge opened Friday, according to state highway officials. The connecting pedestrian ramps will open in mid-August.
Fjfellone@gmail.com.
Metro on 07/01/2017