Crossing Lynn Street and Lee Highway: How Can We Make It Safer for Cyclists and Peds?

[Dirt]

The early crowd wasn’t exactly loving and supportive.

Had 2 people roll their cars up within about 18″ of us as 4 bikes and 2 runners crossed. One revved her engine at us.

[rcannon100]

Havent seen this announcement… probably just missed it. But they say you need to hear a message nine times until you are totally numb…

http://www.arlingtonva.us/calendar/default.aspx#EventDetails_16008

October 5, 2011, 7:00 PM

Arlington County has developed a proposal to rebuild the roadways,
trail and sidewalks in the Rosslyn Circle area to improve public
safety and to enhance access between Rosslyn and the Key Bridge. The
proposed Lee Highway and Custis Trail improvements include trail
upgrades along westbound Lee Highway (Route 29) between N. Oak Street
and N. Lynn Street. Intersection improvements, lane reconfiguration,
trail widening, curb extensions, wider curb ramps, signal
modifications, and increased trail separation are proposed. Agenda
will include a staff presentation of the project’s draft engineering
plan and attendees are invited to comment on the design plan and
potential alternatives.
Location: Arlington Temple Methodist Church, 1835 N. Nash St.

[Dirt]

I noticed a few improvements. About 6 months ago they took down the sign that said “Yield to people in the crosswalk” and replaced it with the “Yield to *Picture of a pedestrian*” sign. After that I had a few people yell that they didn’t have to yield to me because I was on a bike. They did this after I complained about them trying to run me down.

The new sign now says “Yield to *Picture of a bike and pedestrian*” Has it helped? Not really.

[chris_s]

I posted a write-up of last night’s public meeting if anyone is interested and couldn’t make it. It sounds like they really need feedback about the lane reduction on Westbound Lee Highway if they’re going to be able to convince VDOT to allow it so send that feedback!

It won’t fix the safety issues at the intersections, but it should make some positive difference there and it’s what they can get out of VDOT at the moment. The tunnel is still on the table, but will require NPS cooperation which has not been forthcoming. Outside of intersection safety, the project is quite lovely. Can you say 16′ wide trail? Also should vastly improve the visibility at the problematic Marriot Driveway.

[JeffC]

@Mark Blacknell 8165 wrote:

One thing that I came to realize when sitting at the intersection was how the timing of the light at Nash affects things. Eastbound cyclists, starting across Nash when the light turns, only reach Lynn at the end of the walk cycle (unless they *really* drill it). Since any riders who had already massed at the Lynn/Lee intersection have already crossed Lynn by the time the Nash grupetto arrives, cars that had waited for the Lynn group are now in motion through the turn. This then forces the Nash cyclists to either attempt to negotiate their way into a crosswalk for which they’ve got a walk signal, or to simply stop and wait for the next cycle.* I wonder whether a timing adjustment which *cuts* the cross time at Lynn might be a better solution in the mornings. Haven’t worked through it well enough to be sure.

*This was the solution a cyclist quite adamantly said was the right one, after he pointed out to me someone taking the former approach.

With respect to this sentence: “This then forces the Nash cyclists to either attempt to negotiate their way into a crosswalk for which they’ve got a walk signal, or to simply stop and wait for the next cycle.* You should stop and wait for the next cycle when you have the “walk” signal for a few seconds. By the way, as you allude to before this sentence, the cyclists coming from the previous light (either Nash for Ft. Meyer I cannot remember) do NOT have a walk signal. Even if they fly down from the previous intersection, it will be flashing red hand signal at Lynn by the time they get there. I usually give a brake signal with my hand and then have four or five people angrily pass me to fly by me, all to get to work 1 minute sooner. In my mind, those that fly by on a no crossing, flashing red hand signal should get a ticket.

There were 2 police offices in the park that sits in the median between Lee Hwy looking very closely at bikers this morning (Friday 10/7) at about 7:45 am. I think they may be ready to give tickets to cyclists that fly by on a flashing red hand.

[DismalScientist]

A flashing red means that (slow) pedestrians should not enter because they might not make it across by the time the traffic light changes. Certainly a bicyclist entering the crosswalk can make it across before the light changes. Thus, they should not be ticketed.

The basic problem here is that a bike route is routed on a sidewalk. My opinion is that riding bicycles on sidewalks is particularly dangerous. Look at the series of accidents here and right after Bike to Work day. Auto drivers just don’t seem to expect bicyclists (or pedestrians) to, from their perspective, to dart out into the street. (I am not excusing this, just saying it is a problem.)

Worse than that, Eastbound riders are going the “unexpected” direction. (This is the same problem as with counterflow bike paths like 15th St., things like the Pennsylvania Ave. lanes, and the Fairfax/Custis connection.) Is there anyway to re-route the eastbound Custis over (say, the Scott St. bridge) to the eastbound side of Lee Highway?

This is why I generally avoid this whole situation by taking Clarendon and Lynn on my eastbound commute. (Of course, my next rant will be the bad painting of the bike lanes down Clarendon that do not encourage cars to make right turns from the bike lane, but rather try to do right hooks across the bike lane. Perhaps sharrows are the answer, especially downhill.)

[hencio]

@JeffC 8917 wrote:

There were 2 police offices in the park that sits in the median between Lee Hwy looking very closely at bikers this morning (Friday 10/7) at about 7:45 am. I think they may be ready to give tickets to cyclists that fly by on a flashing red hand.

I went through around 8:25 this morning and I noticed that with the police presence people were not whipping around from the center lane or inching up to the cross walk. It was oddly calm.

[JeffC]

@DismalScientist 8918 wrote:

A flashing red means that (slow) pedestrians should not enter because they might not make it across by the time the traffic light changes. Certainly a bicyclist entering the crosswalk can make it across before the light changes. Thus, they should not be ticketed.

Not sure I agree that it is ok for bikes to fly through on a flashing red hand but I’ll respect your opinion to disagree. Even if it is not illegal and does not warrant a ticket, if there was a civil lawsuit, I could see a jury saying the biker was negligent for flying through on a flashing red hand. Moreover, if every biker did what you said there, then cars trying to turn across the intersection would have very little opportunity to ever turn and traffic would back up. I see this in more crowded city streets in DC where cars cannot turn because peds keep flooding across with only a few seconds left on the signal and I can see why cars get frustrated. Ideally there would be some better fix with better infrastructure. Oddly in some cities I have been in with chaotic traffic, traffic cops that rigoursoly enforce car, ped, and bike movements can be very beneficial and efficient but I cannot see Arlington paying for traffic cops here to vigorously enforce rules with hand signals and whistles.

[DismalScientist]

I don’t advocate flying through a red flashing crosswalk. However, pedestrians have every right to be in a crosswalk without a solid red signal. If this means no car traffic can turn right, tough…. If this is a problem and traffic backs up, then the light needs to be redesigned to have a right arrow so that traffic can proceed.

[DaveK]

Since the advent of countdown signals many states have changed their laws to reflect that pedestrians (or cyclists acting as pedestrians) may enter the intersection during the flashing red phase as long as they clear the intersection by the time the red signal becomes solid. Unfortunately Virginia is not one of those states so technically it is illegal to enter the intersection during the flashing red phase. No cop would write you for that though unless it’s flagrant (1 second remaining and you’re in the intersection for the opposing green).

[JeffC]

More important to me than getting a $100 ticket is the civil liability angle. Virginia still maintains a contributory negligence standard which can totally bar recovery to a person who a jury finds is even 1% at fault for causing an accident. Here is an interesting newspaper article about it.

http://norfolk.injuryboard.com/automobile-accidents/unfair-law-of-contributory-negligence-still-king-in-virginia.aspx?googleid=208672

So imagine you as a biker go through on a flashing red hand and a car turns into you. You have serious injuries and sue the driver but a jury determines that, among other reasons, you were negligent because you crossed on a flashing red hand. You would recover nothing even if the driver was say 90% at fault.

[Arlingtonrider]

@JeffC 8933 wrote:

More important to me than getting a $100 ticket is the civil liability angle. Virginia still maintains a contributory negligence standard which can totally bar recovery to a person who a jury finds is even 1% at fault for causing an accident. Here is an interesting newspaper article about it.

http://norfolk.injuryboard.com/automobile-accidents/unfair-law-of-contributory-negligence-still-king-in-virginia.aspx?googleid=208672

So imagine you as a biker go through on a flashing red hand and a car turns into you. You have serious injuries and sue the driver but a jury determines that, among other reasons, you were negligent because you crossed on a flashing red hand. You would recover nothing even if the driver was say 90% at fault.

You hit the nail on the head, Jeff C. This is what matters, and it’s true even if the driver is 99 percent at fault. Only about five states still are pure contributory negligence states, and Virginia, Maryand and DC (though not a state) are among them. I think the other two might be NC and Alabama, but I’m not sure.

[CCrew]

Yeah, I got bit by the contributory negligence dealio about 10 years ago when I got hit in the butt by a tractor trailer on 66. I had legally lane changed just before he failed to apply his brakes. He got the ticket too, but his insurance played the CN card. Mine said that it wasn’t unusual especially dealing with commercial vehicles….

We sued and won, but what a PITA.

[JeffC]

I’ve experienced the CN issue when I was hit by a car that ran a red light in a traffic circle near AU, fortunately there was a witness but initially the other driver’s insurance company denied my claim. I’ve also experienced it as a witness to another accident that is still ongoing.

If you cross the signal with a white hand signal when it is a red light for cars to turn, there is no way you could be seen as contributorily negligent in my mind. Not so though if you cross on a flashing red hand. Given all the accidents there, that is a chance I would rather not take.

[elcee]

I had the “pleasure” of experiencing the Lee Hwy/Lynn intersection as a driver, coming off Rt 110/I-66. Given the number of cars that are trying to turn right onto northbound Lynn, I don’t know why the lights just aren’t configured so that either cars move, or bikes & pedestrians move … but not all at the same time. It seems to me that there should be a right-turn light cycle from Lee to Lynn.

Drivers coming up to that intersection from Lee can’t see the pedestrian and bike traffic if they’re three or four cars back. The front cars are stopped for the crosswalk traffic, but those in the rear get impatient and start blowing horns … then blast through the intersection when there’s finally some movement.

[Author]

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