Tag: fakebikelane

Mill Avenue — Broadway to Southern — resurface

Thanks to the City of Tempe Streets Dept for contacting me/us about this project. A one mile section of Mill Avenue, from Broadway Road to Southern Avenue, is set to be resurfaced (they call this a “Pavement Preservation”) soon, I think Summer/Fall 2017.

existing edge line in the project area along Mill Avenue

This section has edge lines enclosing a small shoulder. (“fake bike lane”). Edge lines generally should not be used on urban arterial roads in this configuration; and especially when they look like bike lanes, and thus are easily confused with bike lanes. The picture of the grate, in the shoulder should be self-explanatory.

Here’s what the City said: Continue reading “Mill Avenue — Broadway to Southern — resurface”

Chandler Boulevard Extension

ChandlerBlvdExt2When the final portion of the Loop 202 / South Mountain Freeway (SMF), the part that connects I-10 to Laveen, gets constructed it will replace Pecos Road. Pecos Road in Ahwatukee will be no more. This would otherwise leave everything west of 19th Avenue inaccessible from the rest of Ahwautkee, except for the freeway. The construction of SMF is supposed to begin summer 2016 and opens late 2019. Continue reading “Chandler Boulevard Extension”

“Shoehorn” Bike Lanes

Attention bicyclist advocates: resist the urge to desire dedicated bicycling facilities when they won’t fit safely.

In the accurately scaled example diagram below (visit iamtraffic.org to tweak the dimensions and vehicle choices. A very cool tool!) a cyclist riding an upright bike is riding centered in a 5′ BL w/curb abreast of a Ford F-150 driving centered in the right general purpose travel lane (and DON’T say “car lane”, or somesuch).

illustration from iamtraffic.org interactive tool
illustration from iamtraffic.org interactive tool

Continue reading ““Shoehorn” Bike Lanes”

No Excuse

There is no excuse for improperly engineered bike infrastructure. It takes on two forms, 1) simple straight-up wrong, and 2) “fake” facilities, those which masquerade as something they’re not; they’re in reality nothing more than shoulders, yet they are intentionally tarted-up to appear to be, and even be referred to as bike lanes (see e.g. Flagstaff, below). Continue reading “No Excuse”

Is this a bike lane?

In a word, No. None of these are bike lanes. But someone sure went out of their way to make it look so. They even moved the not-bike lane stripe over to make more room in the not-bike lane (center photo). [See Fig 1, here, for a picture and description of how an actual bike lane is marked]

What is the correct — both legal and safety — position for a cyclist to assume in these not-bike lanes? Just try to get a straight answer out of the-powers-that-be (in this case, the City of Phoenix) on that one.

The law is refreshingly clear: “If the lane…is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane” a cyclist may ride anywhere in that lane, §28-815(A)(4).

See other articles on critical width; see AASHTO for dimensional guidelines for (real) bike lanes. Continue reading “Is this a bike lane?”

Bike Lane installed on 51st Street

The city of Phoenix has recently installed a bike lane on 51st Street in Phoenix (Ahwatukee), between Warner and Elliot roads [area map]. It is approximately one mile in length. The stretch has appeared (incorrectly) as a bike lane on the MAG Regional Bike Map for years and years. Continue reading “Bike Lane installed on 51st Street”