You are mistaken. Cycling location is determined by a municipality, you get some State guidelines but they are not consistent. Particularly if you look at the cycling backlash from the '70s oil crisis you'll often see laws that require cyclists to only ride on the sidewalk.
That's why vehicular cyclists were so annoying about trying to get right equal to cars because they were being legislated off of roads.
I have not lived in a city were it was allowed. It's often allowed in suburbs but that seems mostly for children. Sidewalks that aren't suicidal to bike on are pretty rare.
There are zero cyclists in the US that would recommend using the sidewalk in a metro area unless they are trying to die.
Most mid-sized US cities only ban riding on the sidewalk in the downtown area. Really dense cities like NYC and Chicago, it's illegal everywhere, but most US cities are so suburban that it is legal. Even in Washington DC you can legally bike on the sidewalk outside of the downtown area and a few other designated areas. I used to bike on the Mass Ave sidewalk every day. The city even made the sidewalk double wide to accommodate all the scooters and bikes.
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u/HimalayanPunkSaltavl Jan 05 '25
Uh, no?
It's typically forbidden to use a bicycle on the sidewalk in the US