By Linda Lyons, Alexandria
(File Photo)

To the editor:

I drove up King Street past Russell Road recently, a stretch of road where some at City Hall think there should be bike lanes.

Good grief. What an idea!

Bike lanes will create a traffic nightmare for all but a few dedicated bikers. I don’t think that casual bicyclists are going to be riding up that steep hill very often, and I don’t think it will be a terrific idea for people to be racing down it. Only the spandex-clad obsessives will use these lanes while inconveniencing everyone else. The self-righteousness of it all is astonishing.

It reminds me of all the sound and fury last year about the proposed trolley on Mount Vernon Avenue, which was pitched to serve a restaurant district and tourist attraction that doesn’t really exist. No one seemed to consider just running a free DASH bus from Old Town to Del Ray, at least as a test.

I think City Hall has too much money and too much free time on its hands. Officials waste it on hare-brained schemes that seem good in the abstract. But they are mostly pointless.