[Spoiler alert: As expected, Gov. Hobbs vetoed this bad bill 6/20/2023] Arizona legislature’s merged “prop 400” (a bill to enable a vote on Maricopa county SALES tax for transpo) bill has been passed by both house and senate on 6/13/2023 along straight party lines (i.e. by one vote in each chamber). As I said before, AZ Republican’s war on walking continues.. or rather their war on anything that’s not a car. Continue reading “VETOED: AZ Legislature’s latest emission”
Tag: infrastructure
Avenida del Yaqui project completed Oct 2022
See pics and more at :.
here's another illustration — BL is narrow. Only about 3' clear space (BL symbol is 40", as you can see it overhangs well into the gutter) pic.twitter.com/BXwrSYm2Zj
— Az Bikelaw (@azbikelaw) October 24, 2022
Continue reading “Avenida del Yaqui project completed Oct 2022”
Warner Road in the 21st Century
Beginning in 2016, working from west to east, the entire length of Warner Road in City of Tempe has been resurfaced. The last segment, was just completed in May 2022.SMOOTH! Continue reading “Warner Road in the 21st Century”
Bicyclist killed crossing McDowell Rd, Phx by hit-and-run driver
12/16/2021 ~ 10pm
“in the area of 34th Street and McDowell Road, according to a Phoenix Police Department news release… Jeffrey Ray, 53, was riding a bicycle and crossing McDowell Road mid-block”
“A sedan driven by 18-year-old Javon Holston was traveling east on McDowell Road when the vehicle struck Ray and continued driving, according to police officials. Officers found Holston and took him into custody.” — azcentral Continue reading “Bicyclist killed crossing McDowell Rd, Phx by hit-and-run driver”
PHX bike ambassador dies after getting hit by drunk driver
Aug 20, 2021
Hans Hughes was very seriously injured last month after being struck at a downtown Phoenix intersection (1st and Filmore). He subsequently succumbed to injuries. Police say a drunk driver ran a red light, striking the bicyclist, and then fled the scene. He was later arrested…
This is fishy; where is the media and why don’t they ask questions?? “The identity of the suspect was not released” (KTAR). As of late September 24th??!! wtf? These are very serious criminal accusations, felony hit-and-run and (likely) manslaughter (blowing a red light and kill someone is also a misdemeanor); someone has been arrested, why the secrecy? Continue reading “PHX bike ambassador dies after getting hit by drunk driver”
McClintock Drive (again)
McClintock Drive within the city of Chandler is being re-configured to add a bike lane in both directions. The construction appears to be nearly completed — this entails moving both curbs of the median toward the center, it looks to be about four feet.
In the photo, at the left (taken Jan 31, 2021) you can see the blacker strip of fresh asphalt. The striping has yet to change; I don’t know if they are planning to resurface it first (? just guessing, not. Just draw the new BL stripe, and black-out and move the dashed line a couple of feet. Continue reading “McClintock Drive (again)”
Bicycle Passing Law Sign
Despite availability of BMUFL/Change lanes to pass signs; there has been work ongoing to approve a whole new sign which would specifically refer to state passing law requirements in states with so-called numerical passing laws. According to NCSL as of April 2020, 34 states have such laws, almost all of them specifying a minimum of 3 feet, and most have some loopholes.
There are any number of home-brewed (non-standard) such signs in use all over the place (e.g. City of Phoenix has been using this sign since 2007); hopefully this will at least clean up that mess. Continue reading “Bicycle Passing Law Sign”
Does Ray Road have a bike lane?
Spoiler alert: No. Ray Road, in Phoenix, does not now, nor has it ever had a bike lane. As I wrote in 2003 and again in 2010 Is this a Bike Lane? the answer is a flat ‘No’. Bike lanes must be marked to be a bike lane. (this also applies to portions of Chandler Blvd under discussion). Continue reading “Does Ray Road have a bike lane?”
Alameda Streetscape Proposal
3/20/2019
via email:
Bonnie Richardson bonnie_richardson@tempe.gov, Project Manager
cc: Julian Dresange, City Traffic Engineer
City of Tempe
Re: Alameda Drive Streetscape Proposal
The City of Tempe is considering various treatments along Alameda Drive; one section of which, between RR tracks and Rural Road is primarily residential and currently has no bicycling-specific striping or pavement markings. Continue reading “Alameda Streetscape Proposal”
Toole Design explains why we don’t have bike lanes in the US
According to Toole, et al, were it not for Forester, we would now have bike lanes everywhere. And not just bike lanes, the entire US would look something like Utrecht, Copenhagen, or Amsterdam. The March 2018 article is a review of a paper by Bill Schultheiss, Rebecca Sanders, and Jennifer Toole of Toole Design Group :
A Brief History of How American Transportation Engineers Resisted Bike Lanes
The “VC is only for old white males” is a trope. John Forester, author of Effective Cycling reiterates, e.g. in this August 2018 discussion thread (group membership required to see whole thread): Continue reading “Toole Design explains why we don’t have bike lanes in the US”
Phoenix’s Sawcut ordinance
Cutting into a road surface creates maintenance problems. Since the city is ultimately responsible for it, there are a set of rules, permits, and fees imposed on whomever might be doing the digging, typically an adjoining property owner (for, for example a new driveway) or utility companies, or the city itself (see example photo at right).
The aftermath of any cutting or digging in a road is particularly problematical for bicyclists when it results in longitudinal gashes/gaps/cracks… and is particularly problematical when the crack is within a Bike Lane because it can reduce the usable width to the point where traveling within the BL becomes impossible to do safely; and furthermore these dangerous conditions are unlikely to be appreciated or even noticed by motorists. Continue reading “Phoenix’s Sawcut ordinance”
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.
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”
Warner Resurfacing
Warner Road is a major east-west arterial that runs through much of the East Valley. It’s continuous from Phoenix (Ahwatukee area, where it forms a loop with Elliot Road, another major e-w arterial), thru Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert. In the city of Tempe it runs the entire width of the city, from wherever exactly it is that Tempe begins (just east of I-10 bridge) to just west of SR101 (google maps)
Warner in this area generally has two through lanes and a designated bike lane (BL) in each direction as well as a continuous center lane, some major intersections have right-turn-only lanes (RTOL), but others do not (more on that later). There are no BLs in the area immediately east of I-10, and there are numerous “dropped” BLs; where the BL is intentionally discontinued to make room for a RTOL. Continue reading “Warner Resurfacing”
Usable Width and Bike Lanes
[Jump directly below to Usable Width for roads without bike lanes]
[Jump directly below to Guadalupe Rd resurfacing example]
[Jump directly below to some engineering details of gutter pans]
Usable Width of a Bike Lane
The dimension below all refer to urban streets with curbs and no parking… Most recommendations for Bike Lane dimensions refer to the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities , the general rule is
the minimum bike lane width is 5 ft (1.5 m), measured from the face of a curb or vertical surface to the center of the bike lane line
However, that changes when a gutter pan is involved, more width is required to meet their recommendations —
Along sections of roadway with curb and gutter, a usable width of 4 ft (1.2 m) measured from the longitudinal joint to the center of the bike lane line is recommended
How to make a right turn
In mid December 2016 Sfbike.org (SanFrancisco Bike Coaltion) issued a warning regarding how Uber autonomously driving cars make right turns. At nearly the same time Uber has de-camped from CA (see e.g. this 12/22/2016 article from recode), literally loading their fleet onto car carriers and driving them to…. Arizona! The decision was based on CA’s regulatory environment for autonomously-driven cars; Uber decided they didn’t want to pursue special permitting which the CA DMV said was required, whereas Arizona has no special permitting required — so long as there’s a live driver sitting in the driver’s seat. More about Uber, below. Continue reading “How to make a right turn”