April 2015 ABAC Meeting

[sjclaeys]

Has there any discussion about indicating that cars should not use a bicycle lane as a right turn lane? It is particularly a problem at Ohio St. and Washington Blvd near Westover. Obviously, this is not good for cyclists using the bicycle lane on Ohio St. as they approach Washington Blvd and there is a car in the bicycle lane. However, it is also a hazzard for drivers. I have often been at the intersection with my right turn signal on, waiting for the light or the ability to make a right on red and then another car pulls up to my right in the bicycle lane to make a right turn. If there is somewhere better in the county to raise this, I’d be happy to do so. Thanks

[dasgeh]

@sjclaeys 112420 wrote:

Has there any discussion about indicating that cars should not use a bicycle lane as a right turn lane? It is particularly a problem at Ohio St. and Washington Blvd near Westover. Obviously, this is not good for cyclists using the bicycle lane on Ohio St. as they approach Washington Blvd and there is a car in the bicycle lane. However, it is also a hazzard for drivers. I have often been at the intersection with my right turn signal on, waiting for the light or the ability to make a right on red and then another car pulls up to my right in the bicycle lane to make a right turn. If there is somewhere better in the county to raise this, I’d be happy to do so. Thanks

That seems like a good issue to raise with ACPD. They generally come once a quarter, and they were at the last meeting, so we probably won’t see them for 2 more months, but I will put on the list. FWIW, it’s not an issue in the places I can think of where it might be (e.g. Quincy and Washington Blvd) because the bike lane isn’t wide enough for a car to squeeze by. And if you’re at the intersection waiting to turn right, you should have already merged into the bike lane.

[sjclaeys]

Thanks. I was wondering if the solution would be painting a green box, like at Veetch and Lee Highway or some kind of signage indicating that the bicycle lane is for bicycles only.

[dasgeh]

Thanks. In the mean time, any W&OD issues (aside from snow clearing) would be very helpful to hear about.

[DismalScientist]

I would think that a car turning right should always merge into a bicycle lane when turning right, particularly when there is no “no right turn on red” sign. A bicycle coming from behind should either stop behind the car or pull up to the car on the left. Otherwise, there is the possibility of a right hook collision. If I were a driver on northbound Ohio turning left onto Washington Blvd, I don’t see why I should be concerned about a car pulling up on my right making a right turn on red. I do not know why you would be in the main lane on Ohio if you were intending to turn right on Washington Blvd (even with your turn signal on).

I will check to see if the bike lane is correctly painted with a dashed left line as it approaches Washington Blvd.

[mstone]

Apart from the stupid paternalistic stop signs?

Is there a good technical reason that, instead of replacing damaged wooden planks (a repair method used, as far as I know, for thousands of years), NVRPA does crazy things like pouring concrete into holes in the wood or nailing plywood over the planks of citizen’s bridge?

[vern]

@dasgeh 112423 wrote:

Thanks. In the mean time, any W&OD issues (aside from snow clearing) would be very helpful to hear about.

The plywood patches on the Citizens Bridge have somehow survived the winter, but they are very squishy at this point. Is there a plan in place for a permanent solution to repair the bridge?

[Steve O]

@vern 112433 wrote:

The plywood patches on the Citizens Bridge have somehow survived the winter, but they are very squishy at this point. Is there a plan in place for a permanent solution to repair the bridge?

Unfortunately, not in Arlington, and so a bit outside of the issues we would advise the county staff about.

[runbike]

@DismalScientist 112426 wrote:

I would think that a car turning right should always merge into a bicycle lane when turning right, particularly when there is no “no right turn on red” sign. A bicycle coming from behind should either stop behind the car or pull up to the car on the left. Otherwise, there is the possibility of a right hook collision. If I were a driver on northbound Ohio turning left onto Washington Blvd, I don’t see why I should be concerned about a car pulling up on my right making a right turn on red. I do not know why you would be in the main lane on Ohio if you were intending to turn right on Washington Blvd (even with your turn signal on).

I will check to see if the bike lane is correctly painted with a dashed left line as it approaches Washington Blvd.

I ride/drive this section of Ohio all the time and there is a dashed line, although my opinion is that the dashed line starts too far back from the intersection and there are often parked cars that force drivers to cut across the bike lane after the dashed line has ended.

Here’s an image from google street view – https://www.google.com/maps/@38.886757,-77.146723,3a,49.2y,0.86h,84.73t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1shBFyuUVI-HBmRxLSD8uMkw!2e0

And yes, once across the bike lane the road is narrow so unless the driver puts effort into it (most don’t) they will be partially in the bike lane. Occasionally I’ve had to queue behind a car or two that are waiting to make that turn, but I’ve never felt unsafe at that intersection.

[DismalScientist]

I checked it out last night. The left bicycle lane line is dashed at the 18th Street and 18th Road intersections and at place where the median is discontinuous so you can make a U-turn between 14th and 18th, but not at Washington Blvd. (The photo you have shows the dashed line at 18th Road.) At the corner of Washington Blvd, there is the main lane, a bike lane and a parking lane. If there is no car in the parking lane, having two cars abreast, one making a right turn, is not even a tight fit. A right turning car could probably make that turn even with a cyclist in the bike lane, but that might be tight.

[vern]

@Steve O 112440 wrote:

Unfortunately, not in Arlington, and so a bit outside of the issues we would advise the county staff about.

The post above indicated reps from NVPRA invited to attend so I thought why not since they will be present.

[dasgeh]

Reminder: meeting next Monday, 7pm 2100 Clarendon Blvd, 3rd floor

And we have an agenda!

7:00 pm Call to Order; Introductions; Approve minutes Gillian
7:10 pm NVPRA Mike Nardolilli; Karl Mohle
7:40 pm Lynn Street Esplanade/Custis Trail Project Update Tom Hutchins
8:10 pm VHC bike parking proposal Justin Corwin
8:20 pm Arlington County staff updates:
A. Projects
B. BikeArlington
C. Parks
D. Data
8:50 pm Budget update Gillian
9:00 pm Adjournment Gillian

[wheelswings]

Harvard School of Public Health has come out with a new study on the need for comprehensive electronic police data on motor vehicle collisions with bicycles. The researchers analyzed crash templates from 50 states, plus several thousand actual crash reports from New York City. They found the police data to be severely lacking, focused largely on whether a bicycle was involved and whether the rider was wearing a helmet. They recommend a much more useful/comprehensive set of nearly 30 potential crash-scene coded variables for police templates, including impact points (such as open doors and mirrors) and specific crash patterns. This is very relevant to some of the discussions we’ve been having in our Arlington BAC meetings about law enforcement crash data as a tool for preventing future injuries and fatalities.

Here is the press release on the study:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/bicycle-safety-crash-reports-need-to-capture-more-data/

And here is the actual article, published in Injury Prevention.
http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2015/03/30/injuryprev-2014-041317.full

I hope we can discuss these bicycle-crash templates at a future Arlington BAC meeting.

[Rockford10]

@vern 112433 wrote:

The plywood patches on the Citizens Bridge have somehow survived the winter, but they are very squishy at this point. Is there a plan in place for a permanent solution to repair the bridge?

I emailed with the NVRPA people asking about the bad wood and permanent solutions. Here is the response:

Dear Rockford10,

Thank you for your interest in the W&OD Trail. I am waiting on a proposal from the contractor to replace the bad wood (approximately 40 pieces are scheduled to be replaced). I hope to receive the proposal this week and move quickly on this. Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions on this or any other trail matters.

Sincerely,

Karl Mohle, CPRP
Park Manager
W&OD Railroad Regional Park
21293 Smiths Switch Road
Ashburn, VA 20147
(703) 729-0596 – office
(703) 724-0898 – fax
[email]wod@nvrpa.org

Not that it matters, but it looks like some of the wood has just been repaired. No comment at all on my “Have you thought about using something other than wood planks on the bridge?”

[mstone]

Wood is fine, they just need to keep up with maintenence. I don’t understand why they don’t just keep some spares in the building just a bit to the west, and replace them as soon as necessary.

[Author]

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