Biking on the freeway

Ever dream of biking from place to place at top speed? The bikers here are living out the dream, outpacing cars stalled in gridlock traffic. (Video found via thejokeisup.com)

The author of that blog, suggests that biking on the freeway might be safer than on surface streets:

"And truth be told, when traffic is that thick, what they’re doing is safer than riding surface streets.. Intersections are where the vast majority of accidents occur with any vehicles. With bicycles, the most common collisions involve a car turning right or left into a rider’s path. Freeways remove that problem and, considering that traffic is at a virtual standstill, problems from differences in speed are also negated"

Would it be absurd to consider a plan for a biking freeway, or at least one separate walled off lane for bikes? Without stop signs, red lights, etc., a bike could really compete with a car on commute time, particularly during heavy traffic times.

The idea was actually tried out along the Arroyo Seco around the turn of the century (click here for more, including pictures.)

Of course, then cars came along and ruined that idea (btw, I don't mean to disparage cars... I actually love car travel when it is outside the thick urban traffic). I'm not sure exactly when the "bike freeway" was torn down, but it apparently did not last all that long.