[bobthepanda]

the common diet is from four to three (a left turn lane), which is actually better for traffic flow, since left turners now have a dedicated pocket and don't block traffic, fewer people get rear ended, etc.

the problem with how the US does bike planning is that the payoff doesn't happen unless you have a bike network; biking is so unsafe on regular roads that a partial journey on bike lanes doesn't cut it. so often bike lanes get poor usage than they would otherwise get due to lack of connectivity.