Here’s the third in a
You are riding on a bicycle boulevard in Berkeley, California. 
The route is clearly marked and easy to find with 6’ x 12’ pavement markings and purple signs abound. The route is pleasant, calmed with speed bumps and neighborhood-planted and maintained traffic circles that double as gardens.
You are riding on a bicycle boulevard in Berkeley, California and an anxious auto driver honks, revs the engine and speeds past you. You are not protected by any special bicycle treatments except for large white paint markings; you are stopped every block by stop signs and unprotected crossings of busy streets.
Berkeley has designated and marked a complete set of bicycle boulevards; on our visit we learned that not all boulevards are created equal. We learned that it is important for boulevards to be visible to cyclists and well marked (we loved their huge pavement markings,) 
but you need more. Bicyclists need streets that operate for them, that by design scuttles a car driver’s desire to honk, speed, or even just be there.
An important goal of the BTA’s Bicycle Boulevard campaign is to create great streets for all cyclists, especially beginners, we were left with an important question ….
Do you designate and mark an entire network of “unequal� bicycle boulevards, some that are sub-par, or do you only designate and mark the ones that are truly great for bicyclists from the start?
What do you think?
I have been very impressed with the bike boulevards in Berkeley. I have been visiting their traffic calming and now boulevard stenciling since 1992. What has separated Berkeley from the other cities (Paris, Portland, Vancouver, San Francisco, etc.) with shared lanes is the large size of their stencils – the fact that they are very visible to cars. Most jurisdiction staff are too ‘timid’ when making decisions for bike blvds in regards to stencil size, placement, and repetition.
The message is hard to ignore in Berkeley. Especially when they repeat a stencil due to problems with way finding or truck traffic (industrial areas).
My last trip there included new bike blvds in the city center that parallel major arterials – while still being convenient and direct routes. (BTA: I can send you a photo and I have ‘bike eye’ video of some of these routes too.)
I agree with you Todd that they have many pieces of the boulevard system that work well. I hope we can bring these to Oregon and Washington.
Feel free to send along photos, perhaps I can figure out how to post the video image.
Enjoy reading this, thank you:)