Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Tuesday that his department would redirect $1.73 billion in Biden-era grants away from establishing “DEI bike lanes” to build roads and bridges instead.
So, what exactly is a “DEI bike lane?”
The Daily Wire pointed to former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s claim that a series of 2021 grants funding bike lanes would serve to “improve infrastructure, strengthen supply chains, make us safer, advance equity, and combat climate change.”
Upon hearing “equity,” President Donald Trump’s goons can’t help but get triggered into attacking any federal spending that won’t benefit them directly. In reality, those Biden-era grants directed funds to build a new transit center in North Carolina, replace bridges in New Mexico, extend streets in New Hampshire, install traffic lights and crosswalks in Missouri, and install bike lanes in Seattle, among other projects. Now the financial status of these projects is unclear.
Fuck that.
I love my bike lane, as a recent e-scooter convert. And you know what sucks? Even my protected bike is not respected.
Just in a month of being a scooter traveler, I’ve had food trucks park in the bike lane (Ignoring that there’s ample parking space beyond the boundary), homeless people just laying down and sleeping in the bike lane, multiple people not paying attention on their phones just walking into it, people pulling out of a McDonald’s and more interested in their burger or soda than checking if a bike or scooter is coming, etc. etc. etc.
Bike lanes are great, but if you’re on two wheels, understand that no one is looking out for you and it’s on you to ensure your own safe passage. (Not that it should be, mind you. That’s just how it is.)
We need all terrain bikes and we just run them over anything in the bike lane. Gimme the Hummer of bicycles and let’s make those bike lanes as dangerous as the main road. See how many people hang out in them then
Its a fun thought, but I genuinely pity people sleeping on the street.