15th Street Cycletrack signage/signals

This came up during the WABA Lincoln Ride this past Saturday. The marshal attempted to explain the correct procedure, not sure if folks were able to internalize it on the fly like that.

My understanding is:
– Motorized traffic on much (all?) of 15th street is one way, going north only.
– The cycletrack used to be one way south.
– It is now a two way cycletrack on the west side of 15th.

When heading north, it wasn’t immediately clear to me (and others) whether bikes should be following the traffic signals or the pedestrian signals. In particular, there’s a safety issue when northbound motorized traffic has a full green + left turn green and pedestrians have a solid don’t walk sign, as the cars will be turning left across the cycletrack’s street crossing.

There may have been some bike lights on some blocks (and/or painted instructions on the path that I didn’t notice), but not the intersections I noticed. There may have been some painted notations on street proper asking left turning vehicles to watch out. Some blocks may or may not have had signs indicating that bikes should be following the pedestrian signals. I haven’t been back to check. But at at least two intersections, by the time I got to the intersection, my in-traffic instinct was saying go, while my pedestrian instinct was telling me “whoa, wait, why do the signals contradict eachother?”.

If you look at the layout, it’s pretty clear the cycletrack folks should be following the pedestrian signals while on the cycletrack, otherwise they’re gonna get creamed by left turning cars. In addition, the folks heading *south* on the cycletrack have no traffic signals, only pedestrian signals, so it’s pretty clear for them. But that wasn’t my gut reaction a couple of times going through the intersections, and that’s not good for safety.

It’s quite possible most people get the correct procedure instinctively, but I failed to. Anyone else?

Brendan