Winter is just around the corner, and it is only a matter of time until we see sleet, rain and snow. It is obviously time to put winter tires on all those bicycles using the ever-growing number of bike lanes in our city.

But mostly, the coming of winter will make those lanes even less-used than they have been this summer, while drivers sit stalled in traffic on narrowing roads.

I understand the benefits of bikes — they're healthier and cleaner than cars and take up less space on the road. But cities like Beijing with lots of bikers and bike lanes typically don't contend with the winters that Detroit has.

With more and more people coming into downtown Detroit, taking away lanes on major arteries only makes that traffic worse. And those bike-lane dividers certainly don't seem like they'd make plowing any easier.

I am still waiting for the bikeification of certain streets such as Gratiot or Woodward or Grand Boulevard. I can only assume that will be slightly before we see bike lanes on I-75 and I-94. Maybe they are Detroit's answer to the lack of mass transit in Southeast Michigan.

If politicians thought that segments of the driving public were not happy with the waste of limited resources on bike lanes, then they should just wait until it becomes obvious that bikers have disappeared until springtime, some five or six months away. Meanwhile the stripes will remain, even when they're buried under snow.

I believe more will question the wisdom of spending millions of dollars to accommodate a handful of bikers, notwithstanding the new scooter renters, as winter sets in.

This is an idea that was carried way too far, with no end in sight. I can only assume it will continue to spread until someone, perhaps a new set of politicians, realizes the error.

I remember when the mayor of Chicago lost a re-election campaign about the city's inability to clear the snow. Bike lanes could indeed be the new battle cry.

This project was a bad idea and a waste of taxpayers' money in the summer. In the winter, it will become obvious what a mistake this project has been.