I'm not that fond of bicycle lanes because usually when you have bicycle lanes, you have joggers, people pushing baby carriages, dog walkers, and even horse riders (in the country), even though there are signs saying bicycles only.
I rode the bicycle lanes in Denver, and I came up on 3 runners running side by side, when there were signs everywhere, indicating it was a bicycle lane. I eventually gave up and took to the roads.
I tried to ride the bicycle lane in Binghamton, NY, one spring day while on business there, but noticed that the lane was loaded with sand and the bike lane was "strategically" placed so that the lane, coincided with the drain culvert, which would have swallowed a bike wheel. While riding one morning and wisely not riding in the bike lane since I didn't know where a drain culvert would jump up, I was yelled at by several motorists, telling me I was supposed to be in the bike lane. They were obviously mistaken, but try and convince some irate geezer on a cell phone that thinks he might be late for his early coffee break before work.
Bicycle lanes aren't what they are touted to be, and I'm worried that some politician will pass a law requiring all cyclists to be in a bike lane. That would spell the end of fast cycling everywhere.