…maybe your experience with “most places” and mine are very different then? I know there ARE roads with bike lanes, some places in the world, I’m just not sure I’ve ever seen them in any of the states I’ve lived in.

Madison is definitely more bicycle-friendly than average here. We have bike trails (once the last bit is finished, I can go from my house to work (~10 km away) without riding along side of a road), roads with bike lanes, and it is generally better for pedestrians. But… even without that, you don’t have city planners in places actively trying to /prevent/ bicycle travel in most places around the US.

That’s…how MOST roads are. They’re not designed to be shared.

Most places don’t insist that this is bicycle friendly though. Especially with how bad drivers are here. This isn’t some major highway or anything – this is just an ordinary somewhat-major road (I think it is technically a county road, but so is almost every major road here).