All but a few blocks is a straight route on a busy four-lane street. I have to cross one freeway, which is a bit of a nuisance since its configuration of right and left turn lanes requires me (if I want to be safe and legal) to be out in the middle of five lanes of traffic for about three block.
I started commuting by bicycle seriously on September 12, 2001. I decided that if I think we should reduce our dependence on oil, I better be willing to put my money where my mouth is. In 2002 I have managed to ride 100 days in the year. I have built up my capability so that I can ride in the dark, in the rain, and in temperature down to ten degrees. I still am "grounded" if the temperature gets below ten degrees or if the roads are icy.
Many years ago, while I was stopped at a light with two lanes of straight ahead traffic to the left and a right-turn lane on my right, a well-dressed young man in a red sports car stopped in the right-turn lane on my right side and ordered me off the road. I am thinking of carrying laminated pages from the Minnesota drivers manual to pass out in such situations, if they ever happen again.
If you consider the big picture, with the need to exercise plus the need to get to work, a commute of five to seven miles is actually more efficiently done on a bicycle instead of a car. I like to tell people, "I don't have time to drive to work."