Eden:
Not only that, in higher density areas it's impossible for cycle tracks to actually go to all of the places where cyclists would need to travel. The higher speed more suburban streets with few intersections and less on street parking and fewer destinations lend themselves better to the creation of safe bike lanes and separated trackways.
Well, is this happening in Seattle? In Portland? In Washington DC? More separated bike lanes in the suburbs vs. in the denser, core/downtown areas?
What people like in residential areas is the convenience of free on street parking....but there's a cost borne by the municipality to keep that space "free" and not always used. Unless the resident living in the neighbourhood pays an annual parking fee for the right to park on that street....which is what happens in Toronto for homes that do not have a driveway or garage at all. It's been going on for the last few decades.

I don't agree that separated bike lanes don't go to places where people live. It is possible in some rare cities in North America. In the core areas of Vancouver, more people are moving into the downtown areas. There are 2 new public schools being built. This has been going on for the last 10 yrs. We live in the downtown area of Vancouver.... condos, townhouses and (a lot less) semi-detached homes.

Sure some suburban streets are great candidates....some of them are shockingly wide (what for?) with very little car traffic because it's purely residential area and it's not even arterial road. I remember yelling at my partner in a pleasant suburban neighbourhood on a peaceful street where a car appeared every 5 minutes..."This is 4 car lanes wide!" Just stupid but of course, a side road lane is for the occasional car park on street..for visitors or pure homeowner convenience when they have their own driveway. There's no other reason for that width.

Keep in mind, I grew up on a lovely one way, 2 lane street with historic detached homes and leafy trees in the downtown area off a major aterial road that hummed with traffic and transit. I think I know what I'm talking about after growing up on an inner city street where the traffic was naturally calmed because it was a single lane one way for cars. Car drivers wouldn't be using our street for a shortcut, that's for sure because they had to slow down.