In Which I Wonder at Three Street Bikes

Irish Drive, a new street in Marion, where most of the houses have yet to be constructed, but bikes are welcome. It's a route to the Lowe Park Trail.

I was on Geode and 3 Street (I Know it’s Third Street, but the street signs amuse me because they say “3 St”) in Marion, and I noticed some new markings.

It appears I was riding on a new Bike BLVD. Bike Lane, but Vehicle Dangerous? Bikers Live as Vile Demons?

Of course, instead of Electric Avenue that you could rock down to, maybe Marion has a Boulevard for bikes?

As it turns out, thank you, Google, that turns out to be the truth. Geode and 3 have been designated a “Bike Boulevard” by the fair city of Marion. It seems a bit of an odd Boulevard, a bit obscurely in the city’s west side. It provides access from Boyson to Tower Terrace, and for me, it is part of my route should I be (and I was) biking from my home to the trail that goes by Lowe Park.

I was actually biking, Wednesday, with a granddaughter in the tot seat of Francis. We were headed to Echo Hill School, where the plan was to meet with Audrey and play with more grandchildren, but one became ill on the way to the park, and plans changed—so when I biked to a parking lot behind Oak Ridge Middle School, I merely ended up trading a 4-year-old granddaughter for a 2-year-old granddaughter, and then retracing my route.

And along the way, we passed three ways Marion has marked streets for lanes for bicycles, and I was a bit amused by the differences.

First, heading south on Irish Drive, we have the most complete bike, but one that apparently has no rider. The sign resembled Francis, sans basket or toddler seat, so that’s OK.

The Irish Drive bike looks like Francis.

Then, after we turn onto the bike lane of Tower Terrace Road, we have the badly eroded depiction of the punk kid (baseball cap, no helmet) who is beaming up the Enterprise as he bikes. By the way, note the rocks in the bike lane—it’s a minor beef I have with both Cedar Rapids and Marion. Run a street sweeper once a month to clear rocks that passing cars deposit on bike lanes, please.

The fading punk biker on a rocky bike lane, Tower Terrace Road.

Finally, the new BLVD bike signs, featuring Fred Flinstone’s bicycle with no pedals.

Down on the boulevard. Nobody knows it. Second embedded ear worm in this blog post. You are welcome.

Well, I’m glad my route to a nice short trail for a few pleasant bike rides is marked. The spreading of bike routes seems like a good thing to me, even if I’m not sure why “Bike Boulevard” appears to be in a slightly obscure place.