August 2015 Trail and Road Conditiona

[GovernorSilver]

Thanks, Bob! The more tickets get submitted, maybe the more likely they’ll do something about those bollards, potholes, and nonfunctional drain.

I don’t care about the bollards slowing me down as much as they are obstacles I have to go around, that do not need to be there, and it’s worse when there’s fellow users coming in and out of the trail. And it will suck having to deal with them at night because of the black color. At least I know they will be there, but new bike commuters and other new trail users may get hurt by those things at night, not knowing they’re there until its too late.

[GovernorSilver]

This evening, the inner bollard was joined by two new “friends” – those orange barrel-like things – to the right of the bollard. A sign of working getting done in response to the tickets we submitted, or the city workers retaliating? :confused:

Let’s see if they’re gone by my next evening commute (Thurs. evening).

[Steve O]

@GovernorSilver 123174 wrote:

Since I’m a regular user of that MUP, I’ll send a report to City of Alexandria. This is the correct site to report the issues, right?

http://request.alexandriava.gov/CCC/#tab=Find

I will include this link in my submission:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/guidance/design_guidance/bollards/index1.cfm

This one is also good:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/recreational_trails/guidance/bollards_access.cfm

And I always recommend reading this series of blogs about why bollards are hazardous and, by and large, worse than useless.
http://www.ohiobikeways.net/bikewaysblog.htm#bollards

[Steve O]

@Kolohe 123254 wrote:

I’m going mildly defend the bollard as 1) there’s two stone walls right there so you have to slow anyway and 2) frequent heavy pedestrian traffic on a narrow sidewalk and erratic car traffic on Braddock means most people aren’t going to be able to go through that junction at speed -or even without stopping- anyway.

Plus the point of the current construction and the delay in final paving and striping is that they’re (re-) building the drainage ditch next to the path that someone either forgot to build or forgot to design.

I’m going to mildly defend putting a telephone pole in the middle of the street. That will help slow cars down where there is busy traffic or pedestrians or something. Great idea!

Please read the Ohio Bikeways blog on bollards from my previous post.

[Steve O]

@bobco85 123261 wrote:

2 bollards are not needed here. A single flexpost on the Braddock Road side would suffice to deter vehicles and would be much safer. Also, the bollards, if kept, need to have reflective striping on them for better visibility at night.

Good except even a flexpost is contrary to FHWA guidance. Bollards should only be installed when there is a demonstrated history of vehicle encroachment and only after other non-hazardous solutions have been ineffective (e.g. signs). Even flex bollards can cause crashes, because the bases are bolted to the ground. A wheel hitting one is likely to cause the rider to crash.

[NickBull]

@Steve O 123368 wrote:

Good except even a flexpost is contrary to FHWA guidance. Bollards should only be installed when there is a demonstrated history of vehicle encroachment and only after other non-hazardous solutions have been ineffective (e.g. signs). Even flex bollards can cause crashes, because the bases are bolted to the ground. A wheel hitting one is likely to cause the rider to crash.

FWIW, bollards (flex) have now been installed down by the fish market at the pedestrian crossing of Maine Ave. This is one that’s a “Yay” because I saw numerous cars trying to make a U-turn through the pedestrian crossing! Perhaps there is a better solution, but this was a location with a “demonstrated history of vehicle encroachment”

Nick

[bobco85]

@Steve O 123368 wrote:

Good except even a flexpost is contrary to FHWA guidance. Bollards should only be installed when there is a demonstrated history of vehicle encroachment and only after other non-hazardous solutions have been ineffective (e.g. signs). Even flex bollards can cause crashes, because the bases are bolted to the ground. A wheel hitting one is likely to cause the rider to crash.

While we tend to disagree on the use of flexposts (I view them as a better substitute to bollards and emphasize using them at places where drivers might mistake a trail access for a driveway/road, while you tend to emphasize signage and other communicative tools over physical impediments like flexposts; however, we do agree that immovable unmarked bollards are hazardous when placed in the middle of a trail and have little to offer cyclists in terms of safety in most cases), I agree with you here. The 2 right angle turns in a confined space would be very difficult for a car to navigate and would probably deter most if not all drivers from attempting to drive through, so a single flexpost would probably not be necessary.

[mstone]

@bobco85 123401 wrote:

While we tend to disagree on the use of flexposts (I view them as a better substitute to bollards and emphasize using them at places where drivers might mistake a trail access for a driveway/road, while you tend to emphasize signage and other communicative tools over physical impediments like flexposts;

I honestly don’t understand why anyone would not want to use better signage over putting an obstacle in the path. (I’m also confused as to why the local jurisdictions won’t even try to come up with better standard treatments than gluing down yet another temporary bollard that’ll break off in a couple of months. It’s a legit problem that a lot of the local trails, blacktop with a yellow line down the middle, look like roads. So why not come up with a standard scheme where the trail gets a big green blotch with a bike or somesuch at intersections? The level of “don’t give a s—” is both amazing and depressing.)

[dasgeh]

Just rode the contraflow lane on G Street NE. It’s awesome, in theory, but it really ups the ante on pavement condition. And the pavement is HORRIBLE. F is much nicer.

[KWL]

Images of Spartacus. What are these signs going to be telling me to do that I’m sure I won’t want to, and what is going on with the overpasses?

[Author]

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