48th Street; Piedmont to Guadalupe gets SLMs (sharrows) @ Arizona Bike Law Blog

48th Street; Piedmont to Guadalupe gets SLMs (sharrows)

Posted on January 17th, 2012 azbikelaw 2 comments

I have a lot of thoughts about this stretch of roadway in Phoenix: 48th Street (turns into Guadalupe Rd), north of Piedmont.
It involves the odd geographic position of the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix; and the the almost complete lack of connectivity for Ahwatukee residents to anywhere else, (Tempe, Chandler, and indeed the main portion of Phoenix) except by car-choked umteen lane roads.

Ahwatukee is called — sometimes derisively, sometimes happily — the world’s largest cul-de-sac. Setting aside 48th street for a moment; Ahwatukee’s ONLY ingress/egress is Pecos Rd (which is loop 202, a limited-access highway), Chandler Blvd (10 lanes?), Ray Road (10 lanes), Warner Road (only 6 lanes?), Elliot Road (10 lanes?). So these are all either a limited-access freeway, or humongous monstrosities that have interchanges with I-10.

In short, these are all car-choked, car-sewers. They are not particularly bad for cyclists; two (Ray, and Chandler) have wide-curb lanes; Warner has nice narrow lanes; I find Elliot road to be most annoying as it is (or was?) “critical width“; that is to say not wide yet not narrow enough to be perceived as too narrow to share by many motorists. Yet many cyclists, understandably, don’t want to do it. It is a thoroughly obnoxious experience for pedestrians, too.

48th Street/Guadalupe is the ONLY bridge over I-10 that is a reasonable human scale, it is 2-lanes (only 1 in each direction!), and has no interchange with the freeway, it’s just a bridge. Thus this makes a vital connection for anyone wishing to bike between Ahwatukee and, say, Tempe/ASU. And it also forms the ONLY connection for Ahawatukee bicyclists wishing to get to the rest of Phoenix (through The Pointe at South Mountain, now called ???. Using what are actually private streets but there’s some sort of public easement).

Why are there no other non-interchange bridges over I-10? E.g. in Tempe, Hardy Dr crosses US60; and there is a ped-bridge just a mile or two away at College. Ahwatukee is like 5 miles. Why don’t ANY collector roads, e.g. Knox Road, cross I-10?

Back to the present case

Here are a bunch of captioned pictures: azbikelaw.org/images/48thGuad

So this stretch of 48th street has been a continuous bone-of-contention for years. North of Piedmont, the road consists of two no-questions-about-it narrow lanes (perhaps 11 feet) in each direction. The posted speed limit is 35mph. There is no shoulder (only an odd edge line just to the left of the gutter-pan joint). There is a raised median; the median appears to be approx 18 feet (curbface-to-curbface) wide.

Let’s be very clear: cyclists may (legally) and should (for safety) be riding IN THE MIDDLE OF THE (right) LANE when going straight ahead.

It appears the best thing the city could do would be to install Shared Lane Markings (SLM, a.k.a. “Sharrows”). The standard calls for “the centers of the Shared Lane Markings should be at least 4 feet from the face of the curb”… in my opinion placing them at the minimum 4′ is confusing far to the right in an 11′ lane (who came up with that spec?). The gutter pan is about 1 foot, perhaps a little more — I would want to see the center of the marking to be something like 6′ from curbface.

For extra credit, I would also like to see some BMUFL signs (see same link above as Shared Lane Markings).

Sharrows Appear

[update 1/17/2012. There is an email from city engineer Kerry Wilcoxon explaining more about the situation and plan for fix/finishing here. In paraphrase, the city is having some delay/difficulty procuring thermoplastic slm's -- once they do, they with fix the bad ones and apply correctly in thermo all along the whole stretch; but there is not timeframe given]

Some sharrows appeared on a the northern section, the part that still shows the edgelines, sometime in very late December 2011. (in other words, the part that wasn’t resurfaced, traffic engineers apparently refer to this as an ‘overlay’, somewhat recently, perhaps mid-2011, which obliterated the lines which were thankfully not restored)

They appear to have been placed at the bare minimum of 4′ from curbface. This leads to problems; though the lane is clearly narrow, this position is going to encourage riders to ride too far to the right, as well as drivers to expect (demand?) that cyclists ride at the right edge. This is contrary to both law ( ride-to-the right, §28-815A, doesn’t apply in narrow lanes, because of exception #4) and safety (e.g. see ADOT Street Smarts: “On a multilane road with narrow lane, ride in the middle of the right lane”).

The sharrows should be place something like 6′ from curbface. Cyclists who wish to can still ride as far to the right as they please. And it puts motorists on notice that they should expect to see cyclists in the middle of the lane, as cyclists are taught to do.

I can only hope this is some sort of temporary test sort of thing, and these existing sharrows can get moved, and they can be properly positioned in the other section of 48th Street that presently has no sharrows (the un-edgelined part, down to Piedmont). BMUFL signs would be welcome, too… In their present incarnation as placed, these markings are hurting, not helping. (as mentioned in the above update, it appears they will be moved to the left so stay tuned)

Bikes May Use Full Lane Signs

As of 1/5/2011 the BMUFL (R4-11) signs are in place; it looks like there are six of them. I think these signs are great — that is, unlike a “share the road” sign, they have very little chance of being mis-interpreted. I was a little surprised at how many cyclists I saw just in 15 minutes while taking pictures. I noted 5 cyclists total not counting myself: 3 southbound ( #1 shows a motorist waiting to turn right , #2: showing some good motorist passing examples, and #3: a gutter bunny where motorists don’t change lanes to pass), one northbound, and one northbound conterflow on the sidewalk. Given the time of day, 4pm,the predominant traffic flow was southbound as expected.

I do have a gripe with the signs, at least two of them are heavily obscured by other signs, and thus are less likely to be seen by motorists. I have no idea how easy it is to address this problem, in one case some of the obstruction is from tree branches which seems simple enough to fix. In other cases, it may be that there are just too many (other) signs.. dunno.

This one is obscured by some tree branches and the “welcome to Phoenix” sign. I took this from the median, the view from where a driver would be is far more obstructed. Could the BMUFL sign be hung on the same post as the welcome sign? — that would make it a lot more visible

Another is obscured by a really big directional sign. Not sure what the solution is, the road curvature is a problem.

…

Here is a link to sharrow (“Shared Lane Markings”) and BMUFL sign info in the MUTCD.

safety ahwatukee
2 responses to “48th Street; Piedmont to Guadalupe gets SLMs (sharrows)”
- azbikelaw December 12th, 2011 at 20:46
  
  Here’s an email from the deep-history file, over 6 years ago!, about this stretch of road…
  
  From: “Michael Sanders”
  To: “Bob Beane (E-mail)” ,
  “Chris Sargent (E-mail)” “Ed Beighe (E-mail)” ,
  “Jay Stewart (E-mail)”
  “Jeremy Longstreet (E-mail)” “Radar Matt (E-mail)”
  Cc: “Coalition of Arizona Bicyclists (E-mail)” ,
  “Radar Matt (E-mail 2)” ,
  “Rich Rumer (E-mail)”
  X-OriginalArrivalTime: 03 Jun 2005 19:31:16.0695 (UTC) FILETIME=[CF82E670:01C56872]
  X-HotPOP-Delivered-To: ebeighe@hotpop.com
  In case you missed it this morning, here’s the article that resulted =
  from the meeting with Phoenix PD on May 26 in Ahwatukee:
  Doggone potholes=20
  Cyclists would like lane added at 48th Street, Piedmont Road=20
  Ty Young
  The Arizona Republic
  Jun. 3, 2005 12:00 AM=20
  Ahwatukee Foothills bicyclists are facing a difficult situation while =
  traversing a busy local intersection.
  
  Deep potholes 48th Street and Piedmont Road are forcing street cyclists =
  farther into traffic.
  
  Cyclists speaking at a recent safety meeting said they would like =
  Phoenix to smooth out that stretch of road and add a bike lane before a =
  serious accident involves one of them.=20
  
  The city is aware of the potholes and expects to fill them as soon as =
  possible, Ray Acuna, a deputy transportation director, said Thursday. =
  But with more than 30,000 new potholes in February and March – the usual =
  amount for one year – the city is playing catch-up.
  
  The busy intersection is filled weekday mornings and evenings with =
  motorists using the Guadalupe Road overpass and the Baseline Road exit =
  from Interstate 10. But a large group of cyclists returning from South =
  Mountain shares the street with cars and trucks.
  
  Returning to Ahwatukee, cyclists can use only 48th Street, which lines =
  the Pointe South Mountain Resort. Although they use the far right side =
  of the street, the area is filled with deep potholes caused by rains and =
  water runoff from homes and a golf course.
  
  Ahwatukee bicyclist Mike Dale, 36, said the intersection has become =
  particularly dangerous because of increased traffic. Many drivers pass =
  extremely close to cyclists, pinning them into the rough areas, the =
  cyclists say. Compounding the issue is that there is no bike lane south =
  of the street, the same place where most of the potholes are found.
  
  “You’ve got 23-millimeter tires on a very rough surface,” he said. “All =
  the standing water in the area is also bad because we can slip and fall =
  into traffic.”
  
  The only other option is to ride on the sidewalks, which is illegal. =
  Most of the sidewalks are also covered with water, Dale said.
  
  “It just adds to a pretty dangerous situation,” he said.=20
  
  The road poses other problems for cyclists, Ahwatukee bicyclist Radar =
  Matt said. The curvature of 48th Street leading up to the intersection =
  blocks motorists’ views, and cyclists traveling at 15 mph are easily =
  overtaken by motorists who were unaware of their presence.
  
  “Part of what makes 48th Street such a pity is that Guadalupe is a very =
  favorable east-west route from Ahwatukee,” Matt said. “Drivers travel =
  very fast and, during those heavy times, aren’t looking out for =
  cyclists.”
  
  Balancing the interests of motorists and cyclists should start with =
  safety, said Officer Brandon Stevens, a traffic safety liaison from the =
  Phoenix Police Department.=20
  
  He said both parties must understand the rules in order to ensure the =
  safest environment.
  
  “If the bike lane ends and there are potholes, (cyclists) can merge into =
  the road and take up the entire lane,” he said.=20
  
  “They’re technically a vehicle at that point, and motorists need to let =
  them in.”
  
  Stevens and Dale have worked together to increase safety awareness while =
  on the road. Before a Tuesday ride on Pecos Road, Stevens addressed more =
  than 50 bikers before they went out on their morning ride.
  
  “We’re working to get the information out there,” he said.
  
  “We’re working to get signs in the area near the Pointe and on Pecos to =
  let drivers know that there are bikes on the road.”=20
  
  Always interesting to read what a non-cyclist newspaper reporter picks =
  up on at these types of meetings and what the headline writer comes up =
  with! I didn’t come away form the meeting thinking, “yeah, those =
  doggone potholes are a big problem in Ahwatukee.” Meeting was about =
  sharing the road — legally and safely. And, of course, the City does =
  not prohibit bicyclists on sidewalks (competent cyclists know it’s just =
  not safe to use them). In fact, City Code states, “Whenever any person =
  is riding a bicycle upon a sidewalk he shall yield the right-of-way to =
  any pedestrian.” (Sec. 36-113).
  Mike
  
  Michael N. Sanders, Senior Transportation Planner
  Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator
  Transportation Planning Division
  Arizona Department of Transportation
  206 S. 17th Ave., Mail Drop 310B
  Phoenix, AZ 85007
  MSanders@azdot.gov
  (602) 712-8141
  Fax (602) 712-3046
  http://www.azbikeped.org/
- azbikelaw January 6th, 2012 at 12:22
  
  Press Release from Phoenix Political Pedal Power (P4)
  January 3, 2012, For immediate release
  
  Phoenix Political Pedal Power strongly appreciates that the City of Phoenix has begun to use Shared Lane Markers (SLM, aka Sharrows) for increasing cycling safety when street configurations warrant them. The first use is on 48th St approaching Guadalupe Rd. where the right-most traffic lane is too narrow to be shared by a cyclist and motorist at the same time.
  
  The presence of a Sharrow has meaning to motorist and cyclist alike. To the motorists, it means that cyclists may be using the whole lane in compliance with State Law, ARS 28-815.A.4. To the cyclist, it indicates the safest position relative to the configuration of the road and is a discouragement to motorists trying to squeak by when there is insufficient room for a safe passing.
  
  We hope motorists and cyclists alike will continue to Share the Road in this new configuration. In this case, Arizona Law provides for the cyclist to use the whole lane when it “is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane”. Sharrows have been used in other Cities and States for a few years and the results have been better for all users of the roads.
  
  See P4 on FaceBook at http://www.tinyurl.com/p4bike. P4 functions as the political action arm of Arizona Bicycle Club (ABC), a 501(C)4 organization advocating save and effective cycling, and organizes many rides for all abilities and skill levels. ABC is a member of the League of American Bicyclists which provides education by certified instructors in cycling safety and ratings of the cycling friendliness of communities, States and businesses.
  
  For information, call Gene Holmerud, LCI #1193 at 602.243.6136 or 602.390.5344
  
  ###
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