Bicycling in Bloomington

In two or three posts, I will describe in some detail the conditions for bicycle riding on Bloomington streets. This is the first post. Later, I will describe the conditions for riding on Monroe County roads.

Bloomington Streets

Street surfaces: In general, the street surfaces are good. Bloomington has mild, short winters, so the freeze/thaw cycles do not create many potholes. And, few potholes are in the area where bicycles normally travel. The major potholes are usually repaired quickly.

The streets have limited alligatoring. Occasionally, the patching is uneven. Through most of the city streets, bicyclists on fat tires can proceed without much concern about potholes and severely uneven surfaces. Those on skinny tires can usually negotiate these problems very easily.

Street debris: Bloomington has very dirty (FILTHY) streets. The right sides of the streets are filled will all sorts of debris – gravel, limbs, glass, stones, mud, litter. Most intersections have gravel. Bicyclists need to continually looking for problems on the street surface.

When I first moved to Bloomington, I mentioned to many people that I was surprised by how dirty the streets were. When travelling, I compared the city streets to Bloomington streets and all others were much clearer with far less debris. Even in more “questionable” areas. Last May, I was in Manhattan for a few days. I noticed again how much cleaner the NYC streets were than those in Bloomington.

Most locals did not agree that the streets are dirty, but few ever see the streets except from their cars. It might be thought that dirty streets are a policy of the local government. It’s certainly not a policy to keep them clean.

Last summer, some local government employees spilled oil on a street near our house. They then covered the spill with gravel and sand but did not remove either. I complained to the city government about it and they denied it. Only after two weeks of “discussing” the issue did they recognize what happened. But, they still didn’t clean it. The oil and gravel are now in the local streams.

In Bloomington, stupidity and incompetence do not disqualify anyone for either elected or appointed positions. I’ll describe some similar issues with city government in other posts about city streets.

For bicyclists, the street conditions mean that riding at the far right of the street can often be hazardous because of the debris. Unfortunately, many inexperienced bicyclists stay too far to the right on the streets to avoid impeding cars. In Bloomington, the street hazards are at least as bad as the problems caused by local drivers and the far right is not necessarily safe.