It was a bit disconcerting to see the answers six of the seven Commissioner District 5 candidates gave Wednesday to a question about furthering bicycle transportation in Freeborn County.

All of them attacked the bike lane the Albert Lea City Council approved this past fall. We should remind the candidates of this: You are running for county government, not city government.

None of them said anything about how bike transportation could or should relate to the county. And there are golden opportunities for answers on the topic, from extending the Blazing Star Trail to getting signs on the freeway telling motorists about the Blazing Star Trail to making shoulders of county roads more bike-friendly.

The candidates also all seemed to have degrees in civil engineering, declaring they knew the Front Street bike lane would be unsafe. To the audience, it just seemed clear they just didn’t follow the bike lane issue closely in the first place.

Here’s a recap: The hospital favored it. The school was in favor of it, and people with the proper degrees who knew anything real about traffic issues said the bike lane would make the area near the two schools safer and more visible than it is now. Presently, kids must dart from between parked cars into traffic to reach cars parked on the other side of the street. It’s already an unsafe situation. The bike lane resolves that.

And it was said over and over that bicycle transportation has proven to be safer than automobile transportation.

We suppose the answer the candidates all gave proves the old adage: It’s easier to be against something than to come up with actual solutions.