The more one thinks about bicycling in Bend, the more Bend dentist Tad Hodgert’s idea makes sense. Eight-foot bike lanes on a rebuilt Skyliners Road would be just the ticket for a growing segment of the region’s recreationists.

Skyliners Road, which runs west from Bend to the Deschutes National Forest, will get a makeover in the next couple of years, and as part of that, it will get spiffed-up new bike lanes. Problem is, those lanes are currently set to be 6 feet wide, while Hodgert and other biking enthusiasts want them to be 8 feet wide. If the change is to occur, local supporters of the idea will have to persuade the Federal Highway Administration that the idea is a good one.

It won’t be easy. Skyliners is a relatively lightly traveled road by modern standards, serving not much more than a handful of houses in addition to those folks heading to nearby Tumalo Falls and other parts of the forest. There are other financial problems, as well. Should the highway administration decide a wider lane is a great idea, Deschutes County may have to come up with more money to purchase additional right-of-way along the road. Given the state of the county’s road budget these days, doing so would be difficult.

Yet the idea is an attractive one, and not just for cyclists.

Bend is rapidly becoming a mecca for cyclists from around the United States, and some events, including the Cascade Cycling Classic, draw them from around the world. Cycling tourists bring more to the community than a few days in motels and a few meals in restaurants.

A surprising number of those moving to the area with businesses or to start businesses do so after having vacationed here happily in the past. Drawing tourists to the area, in other words, is good for the community not just in the short run, but in the long run, as well.

Skyliners Road, meanwhile, is a favored cycling road, not only for itself, but for the mountain bike trails that lead off it. That’s led to some conflicts with those who live along the road and worry about navigating through groups of cyclists, but wider bike lanes could ease, not increase, those worries by giving cyclists more room.

Hodgert’s idea is a good one, though without broad community support, it may be more quixotic than realistic. Yet what he wants is, in fact, a good idea, one the community should get behind heartily.