Advisory bike lanes installed on Milwaukee street: How to use them

From the article:

The city of Milwaukee finished installing advisory bike lanes on an East Side street this weekend.

The bike lanes are on East Edgewood Avenue between Oakland Avenue and Lake Drive, the first advisory bike lanes ever installed in the Milwaukee area, according to the Milwaukee Department of Public Works. The new street layout leaves one center lane meant for traffic going both ways, causing confusion and concern for some neighbors.

"I'm definitely concerned because I bike this all the time," said cyclist Jeff Knitter. "But it was terrible before. So in a way it can't be any worse because the road is smooth."

He is concerned drivers will not understand the new traffic pattern.

The street used to have two lanes for parking and two lanes for traffic. Now, the street has two lanes for parking, two bike lanes with dotted lines, and one lane for traffic.

According to DPW, if a driver sees oncoming traffic, they are supposed to briefly merge into the bike lane to avoid the vehicle, and then merge back into the center lane.

"Every 15 minutes there's the bus. Plus the bikes, plus the parked cars. It's just a lot of traffic on one street," said Dana Grennier, who lives nearby.