Bike Light on the MVT at Porto Vecchio (Alexandria)M

Moved this thread over from Missed Connections

@lordofthemark 136305 wrote:

BTW you might prefer Alexandria. We have no car protected bike lanes (I believe ones were proposed for Prince and Cameron, but we will get conventional door zone bike lanes instead, because parking, I guess), we have no bike traffic signals AFAIK, and we have relatively few wayfinding signs, although that last is starting to change.

@CaseyKane50 136365 wrote:

Not correct, the first bike traffic light in Virginia was installed in Alexandria in 2010, just south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, at the Porto Vecchio Condominiums. Of course, since that one, there have been no other bike lights installed in Alexandria.

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@Amalitza 136379 wrote:

They also stopped using this one. I mean, it’s still there, but it no longer functions as a red-green-yellow “normal” traffic signal. I liked it when it functioned that way, with a green bicycle that turned yellow at an appropriate amount of time for bike-speed notification that a red light was about to happen. It now has a red bicycle during the red-car-light/don’t-walk-light portion of the cycle, and a yellow bicycle at all other times, which makes it useless. It conveys no information other than what the car and pedestrian lights already convey. My guess would be it was changed for the same reasons others have been discussing– a non-trivial percentage of drivers coming out of the condo parking lot never look right before turning right on red onto Washington street. They are focused looking to their left waiting for a gap in northbound traffic on Washington street. These are people living directly adjacent to the MVT. I have seen drivers do this on busy weekend days in spring, when there is an uninterrupted flow of pedestrians and cyclists on the trail. I go through there enough that I expect it and will always slow down enough to be ready to stop when a car did that, but my guess is there are enough tourists and occasional trail users that others saw the green light and did what most people do at green lights which is proceed through it at normal speed assuming that the cross traffic (who has a red light) are not going to run you over. Except here, they are. Well, most of them won’t, but about 15% of them will.

@Amalitza 136423 wrote:

It used to function as a normal traffic light. It’s been awhile; might have been before you moved to the neighborhood. It was nice. The yellow was timed really nicely to let, say, a 12mph bike know the red was coming.

@CaseyKane50 136460 wrote:

I submitted a Request using Alexandria’s Call.Click.Connect asking that the light be reprogrammed to include a green cycle.

A few messages were left out on the thread

@bobco85 136472 wrote:

For the MVT/Porto Vecchio Condominium (I’ll just use “parking lot”)/GWMP crossing, a few notes:

• southbound GWMP (would turn left across MVT) has a “Left Turn Yield on Green” sign
• northbound GWMP (would turn right across MVT) has a “No Turn on Red when Pedestrians Are Present” sign
• drivers exiting the parking lot have a “No Turn on Red when Pedestrians Are Present” sign
• drivers exiting the parking lot ALSO have a “Do Not Block Bike Path” sign

My solutions for this issue:

• Reset the bike light so that it will turn green
• Add a sign for northbound GWMP drivers saying “Right Turn Yield on Green”
• Have the condo management send a notice to all residents that “No Turn on Red when Pedestrians Are Present” includes when trail-users are present and that residents need to be more cautious when exiting the parking lot onto GWMP
• Add signs on both sides of the crossing on MVT that say “Blind Driveway”
• Enforce the law with police presence about a week after sending a notice to the condo residents to really hammer the message home

If we’re treating the trail as a glorified sidewalk, then remove the bike light and use a pedestrian signal only. If we’re treating the trail as a major route for cyclists and other trail-users, then it needs to be treated like any other intersection with proper signage.

@Terpfan 136591 wrote:

Also, back to the condos on MVT at edge of south OT discussion. I took the time to look around a little this morning and I noticed that at the next traffic light (to the apartment buildings on the trail side, but before Wilson Bridge) there is a No Turn on Red sign. So I’m trying to fathom how they can’t turn right on red, yet have actual sight-lines to the trail and roadway, whereas the folks in the condo complex can? They should both just be no turn on red. (And I stand corrected on my previous comment suggesting connecting the two since the further north exit is no turn on red). I think that solves the problem all together.

@CaseyKane50 136608 wrote:

There had been a discussion at the July 2015 BPAC meeting with City staff about changing the signs at South Street and the Porto Vecchio Driveway signs to be “No Turn On Red”. Only the one at South Street made it to the Traffic and Parking Board for consideration in October. As you noted, it has been changed. Guess it is time to try again with the Porto Vecchio driveway.