Bike Unfriendly Curb Cut on Walter Reed Project

[zsionakides]

@dasgeh 187864 wrote:

I’ve been told that curbs like that are almost always about water management and/or soil retention.

Soil retention makes sense for the concrete barrier next to the power line pole, but it doesn’t make sense on the curb cut for the road. If you see the curb cut they build on the southwest corner by the Shell station, it’s wide and easy to navigate for bikes crossing both Walter Reed or Four Mile Run.

[dasgeh]

@zsionakides 187986 wrote:

Soil retention makes sense for the concrete barrier next to the power line pole, but it doesn’t make sense on the curb cut for the road. If you see the curb cut they build on the southwest corner by the Shell station, it’s wide and easy to navigate for bikes crossing both Walter Reed or Four Mile Run.

I’m 100% guessing here, but I would bet that either, the area by the pole is slightly lower than the road, so they (think they) need the curb by the road to keep water from flowing into the sidewalk/bike path/whatever that is; or they think this is such a big area that cars would end up driving on the sidewalk/bike path/whatever that is if there weren’t a vertical barrier (that may even be an ADA thing). As to the water, if the topography is such that the area by the light pole would become a pond without the second curb, then just removing the second curb doesn’t work.

Not excusing the design, but it helps to know what the real issue is to come up with a solution.

[zsionakides]

Update: This morning when I was running by the intersection and waiting for the light, I saw and overheard five personnel from Arlington discussing the curb cut. A couple of them were not construction workers as they had office wear on under their vest and hardhat. Hopefully this leads to a fix as they were pointing out widening the curb cut and looking at where the pedestrian light is.

[Judd]

It appears that the curb cut has been repoured. It’s still under plastic but it appears that the curb was shortened, making a wider pedestrian landing. It looks like it will be better but still an awkward angle. Sorry that it’s upside down. I’ll try reposting from my phone to see if it will come out right side up.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]19962[/ATTACH]

[Judd]

Hopefully this posts right side up.

[zsionakides]

I didn’t get a pic, but they only fixed the crosswalk part. The chute still exists and the turn is still challenging going eastbound.

On the NE corner, they did it right, and it will be quite easy to navigate.

[Judd]

A few pics from tonight. The curb and the length of the sidewalk was shortened to align the curb cut with the existing crosswalk.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dasgeh]

How is someone with a kid in a trailer supposed to navigate that?

[KLizotte]

I live on that corner. At a minimum, there needs to be a curb bump out to slow the drivers down when making a right hand turn. It’s a dangerous intersection and I’m furious that left hand turn signal still haven’t been installed for north-south traffc. Sigh.

[zsionakides]

I didn’t get photos, but it looks like the crossing of the slip lane on Arlington Mill Drive to the refuge area will be at road grade and not a raised crosswalk like shown in the project documents. That means the school buses and other trucks who currently don’t stop for pedestrians and bikes can continue their practice without having to slow down in the future.

[Steve O]

@zsionakides 189881 wrote:

I didn’t get photos, but it looks like the crossing of the slip lane on Arlington Mill Drive to the refuge area will be at road grade and not a raised crosswalk like shown in the project documents. That means the school buses and other trucks who currently don’t stop for pedestrians and bikes can continue their practice without having to slow down in the future.

That was also how it was presented to the BAC by the project manager – raised crosswalk.

[chris_s]

@zsionakides 189881 wrote:

I didn’t get photos, but it looks like the crossing of the slip lane on Arlington Mill Drive to the refuge area will be at road grade and not a raised crosswalk like shown in the project documents.

I expect that the raised crosswalk will be built the same time that the new refuge island is built (the next construction phase).

[zsionakides]

@chris_s 189891 wrote:

I expect that the raised crosswalk will be built the same time that the new refuge island is built (the next construction phase).

When I ran by there yesterday you could see the new curb cut from the Arlington Mill trail side and it went to road level, not raised. The refuge has been shaped out and is in progress.

[dasgeh]

I’ve been in contact with the project manager about the WRD/FMR curb cut, and have been told that they’re not done with construction. She’s out of the office now, so I’m not sure if I can get an answer about WRD & AMD.

[Subby]

Ugh why are we still doing rounded corners in 2019? You are just begging for someone to get crushed.

[Author]

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