Monday Blues: A Ghost of a Bike Lane

There is an outline there, a sharp edge remains, yet the soft filling, the part that makes the stripe stand out has nearly vanished. Like an Oreo cookie in which the creamy center has been scraped away, leaving the two crunchy parts on either side. Rare are the instances in which those painted lines marking traffic lanes are allowed to ghost away. Yet when it comes to markings for bike lanes, the regard for upkeep seems to often be an afterthought. You would think that in a city like Claremont, that prides itself on bike-ability, and bicycle-friendliness, simple fixes like this would not happen; the slow degradation would stop almost before it begins. 

In my readings over the years, I was never much a fan of the murder / mystery genre, yet I see a mystery in things like this  and wonder what the reason could be. The bike lane in question runs north - south on College Avenue. Just down the street, at my back in the photo, the construction for a new laboratory at Pomona College is nearing completion. The construction has, out of necessity, pushed into the streets along two sides, and I have come to the conclusion that the city is awaiting the end of construction when restriping can be done in one fell-swoop. When construction is finished, this mystery will either resolve itself as I suspect, or it won't.

This isn't the only instance of a construction-impacted bike lane in the City of Claremont right now. The other is far from "blue" however, so will have to give it a separate post once I take a photo.

Blue: A color, a mood or emotion, a genre of music. Tune in each Monday for another installment of the Blues, with a cycling twist.