On my way to work this morning on 12th Street Ave., I encountered this:

To keep going, I had to move into the street. Then I circled back to take a photo. As I did so, two other cyclists were forced to exit the bike lane and work their way into vehicle traffic to get by.

I reported this week on the fight brewing over the Westlake cycle track (a protected, dedicated bike lane), which would run on Westlake Avenue between South Lake Union and Fremont. But what do we keep hearing from opponents of the cycletrack ad nauseum? "There's a bike lane on Dexter Avenue a block away, which runs parallel!" they say. "What's wrong with that? Why do you need an additional route?"

This truck is why. Bike lanes are okay. They are not great. They're not signs of a world class city and they're not terribly safe for everyone, including less experienced cyclists, to ride on. A cycletrack—there's one that I often use running parallel to 12th St. Ave. over on Broadway (and the Westlake cycletrack will have the additional benefit of being on flat terrain)—does not have this problem.