I am writing in response to Eric Fruits (  ) and the rest of the
apparent majority who misunderstand the strategy behind building
bioswales in lieu of bike lanes and who falsely equate the value
of one with the other. Bioswales are not bike lanes, thank
goodness for that.  Bike lanes do nothing for street safety; all
they accomplish is the act of tethering bicyclists to the edge
of the road so motorized traffic can feel free to ignore them
and speed by as usual. Bike lanes are not a solution to multi-
modal road sharing but merely a band-aid application that serves
to push bikes out of the way of cars and into the dangerous
"door zone" without addressing the safety issues at all.
Bioswales, on the other hand, accomplish the grand feat of
traffic calming; they cause motorized traffic to slow down,
making the streets safer for vulnerable road users like
bicyclists and pedestrians. With pedestrian and cyclist road
deaths on the increase, it would be nice to assume that such
safety improvements for our streets ar