Good News on Infrastructure thread

[lordofthemark]

@peterw_diy 160427 wrote:

I ride Cameron often and am not sure I like the change from sharrows to door zone paint-defined bike lanes. While it’s nice that it’s now easy, in some stretches, to ride past backed up autos, I also now find that a significant portion of people driving don’t give me three feet when overtaking me.

They behave as if they think staying in their auto lane suffices. I find this a little odd since on other streets like Commonwealth motorists are pretty good about giving cyclists more space. Anyhow, motorists passing too close now happens fairly often, but didn’t in the old design, where I would take the lane.

I think this street, while smoother, is likely less safe for people on bikes than before.

(I hope this post doesn’t end up in my obit or on a gofundme page.)

Note – I don’t recall these lanes being particularly a BPAC “ask” – I think BPAC wanted PBL’s, they were nixed because parking, and BPAC went along with T&ES plans.

I have not ridden on them yet, but here are a few thoughts.

1. Of course the most confident VC type riders can still take the lane, as that is still legal. I suppose they will get honked at more and told by drivers to take the bike lane. Riding may still be safer for them, if the bike lanes do effectively calm traffic, making it slower and getting drivers to pay more attention.

2. There are folks who won’t ride in the street without a bike lane. Adding a bike lane either gets them to ride (with major health benefits) or it gets them off the sidewalk (and yes, I see people riding the sidewalk in Old Town). I don’t think I need to reiterate all the reasons riding the sidewalk in a place like Old Town is bad, both for the rider, and for biking in Alexandria

3. There are people who ride the door zone even where no bike lane is striped. I think I have seen this on Cameron, though I think not on Prince. To the extent that the bike lanes calm traffic, and let parkers know to expect cyclists, this will improve safety for such people. As for whether bike lanes cause drivers to give less or more room to cyclists, I am not sure. IME some drivers pass close when there are bike lanes, some do not, and the same when there are no bike lanes. I would love to see a study, but don’t really trust even my own anecdotal observations, or anyone else’s.

4. The real losers, I guess, would be riders who currently take the lane, but are not willing to put up with honking, etc and thus will find themselves pressured to the bike lanes. I don’t suppose that calmer traffic will make up for the disadvantages of the bike lane, at least in terms of safety.

5. To the extent the lanes calm traffic, they will benefit pedestrians and (safe) drivers.

And yeah, I know, I need to go ride them to have a better informed opinion (though so far the issues raised with them are similar to other door zone bike lanes)

[Judd]

@Birru 160424 wrote:

Who are you and what did you do with Casey?

#HighMileageRoadieNow

[Sunyata]

@Judd 160449 wrote:

#HighMileageRoadieNow

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14842[/ATTACH]

[runbike]

Hey everybody!

Not sure if this has been covered elsewhere, but I happened to be driving (gasp!) on N. George Mason Drive (between Yorktown and Lee Highway) and saw that as part of the recent repaving it’s also receiving those v2.0 bike lanes with the extra buffering. Check it out!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14999[/ATTACH]

[huskerdont]

@run/bike 161758 wrote:

Hey everybody!

Not sure if this has been covered elsewhere, but I happened to be driving (gasp!) on N. George Mason Drive (between Yorktown and Lee Highway) and saw that as part of the recent repaving it’s also receiving those v2.0 bike lanes with the extra buffering. Check it out!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14999[/ATTACH]

The day before yesterday when I went through here I took the lane b/c they were painting them. I shouted “thank you very much!” (b/c loud painting equipment going) to the workers as I went by.

[Fairlington124]

Arlington County has apparently taken initial steps in their project to reconfigure the intersection of S. Arlington Mill Drive and S. Walter Reed Drive, near Shirlington (https://projects.arlingtonva.us/projects/south-walter-reed-drive-improvements-arlington-mill-drive-four-mile-run-drive/)

White plastic flex posts have been installed which appear to mimic how the future enlarged concrete “porkchop” island will be. Walkers and bikers can now safely take refuge in the area immediately south of where the current concrete island is. There is now a single left-turn lane, down from two.

There is also a marking for a bike lane heading northbound on S. Walter Reed Drive….this will allow bikers heading north to stay in a bike lane while traversing the intersection.

No photos yet but I made a mockup from Google Maps.[ATTACH=CONFIG]15017[/ATTACH]

[KLizotte]

They are planning on “fixing” two other intersections along the WOD and 4MR (but not Walter Reed?!) too as part of the same project.

[dasgeh]

@Fairlington124 161996 wrote:

Arlington County has apparently taken initial steps in their project to reconfigure the intersection of S. Arlington Mill Drive and S. Walter Reed Drive, near Shirlington (https://projects.arlingtonva.us/projects/south-walter-reed-drive-improvements-arlington-mill-drive-four-mile-run-drive/)

White plastic flex posts have been installed which appear to mimic how the future enlarged concrete “porkchop” island will be. Walkers and bikers can now safely take refuge in the area immediately south of where the current concrete island is. There is now a single left-turn lane, down from two.

There is also a marking for a bike lane heading northbound on S. Walter Reed Drive….this will allow bikers heading north to stay in a bike lane while traversing the intersection.

No photos yet but I made a mockup from Google Maps.

It’s a “pilot” project, so if you like what they’re doing, please, please, please tell them (des@arlingtonva.us should work, but there may be a better contact for this project).

@KLizotte 162000 wrote:

They are planning on “fixing” two other intersections along the WOD and 4MR (but not Walter Reed?!) too as part of the same project.

I don’t think so. But you can certainly suggest they do!

[bobco85]

@Fairlington124 161996 wrote:

There is also a marking for a bike lane heading northbound on S. Walter Reed Drive….this will allow bikers heading north to stay in a bike lane while traversing the intersection.

This is awesome! I pass NE-bound through this intersection on my morning commute, and drivers tend to drift over into the unmarked bike lane which puts a squeeze on cyclists such as myself who get walled in by the concrete island. With the new markings, I was surprised at how much space I actually got from drivers (who knew that’s how it’s supposed to be!).

@KLizotte 162000 wrote:

They are planning on “fixing” two other intersections along the WOD and 4MR (but not Walter Reed?!) too as part of the same project.

I noticed on parts of the Wilson Blvd bike lane in the Bluemont neighborhood that double white line “bulb-outs” were painted at intersections like Wilson/Jefferson, Wilson/Jacksonville, Wilson/Kensington, and more. I imagine they might get flexposts, too, to narrow the crossings which will make it safer for pedestrians.

[bobco85]

While riding on the Matthew Henson Trail this weekend, I got a chance to try out the upgraded crossing at Viers Mill Rd. In the past few years, there were 2 separate crashes where cyclists were killed while trying to cross (one crash was blamed on the cyclist, the other crash was infuriatingly dismissed because MD law did not specifically state that mounted cyclists have any rights when using a crosswalk).

For added context, Viers Mill Rd has a 45 mph posted speed limit and crosses the Matthew Henson Trail in a valley (traffic is coming downhill from both directions). The intersection with outdated imagery can be seen here: https://goo.gl/maps/3kAueS8HT2Q2

I have pics combining what was before versus what is there now. Before is on the left, After is on the right for each. I tried to get a similar spot for the old shot.

approaching the intersection on the trail from the north, a new sign for cyclists that reflects the “you don’t have pedestrian rights in crosswalks” judgement in the 2nd cyclist fatality case
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15097[/ATTACH]

new pedestrian crosswalk signal (walk/don’t walk) replaces the button triggering flashing yellow lights
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15098[/ATTACH]

no changes to the approach from afar
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15099[/ATTACH]

speed limit is still 45 mph
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15100[/ATTACH]

here you can see the HAWK-like new signal; the signal has a constant flashing yellow, but when peds/cyclists push the beg button, the light cycle goes faster flashing yellow, solid yellow, red
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15101[/ATTACH]

In my experience going through this crossing both ways (I did an out and back on the trail), I noticed that drivers were confused as to what to do. They were stopping on the flashing yellow when I had a don’t walk sign and waving me through; they’re supposed to stop when their light turns red and I get a walk signal. I am concerned, however, by this because driver confusion leads to unpredictable behavior.

[Judd]

@bobco85 162590 wrote:

In my experience going through this crossing both ways (I did an out and back on the trail), I noticed that drivers were confused as to what to do. They were stopping on the flashing yellow when I had a don’t walk sign and waving me through; they’re supposed to stop when their light turns red and I get a walk signal. I am concerned, however, by this because driver confusion leads to unpredictable behavior.

I just don’t understand why we can’t use standard traffic lights for trail crossings.

[CaseyKane50]

@Fairlington124 161996 wrote:

Arlington County has apparently taken initial steps in their project to reconfigure the intersection of S. Arlington Mill Drive and S. Walter Reed Drive, near Shirlington (https://projects.arlingtonva.us/projects/south-walter-reed-drive-improvements-arlington-mill-drive-four-mile-run-drive/)

White plastic flex posts have been installed which appear to mimic how the future enlarged concrete “porkchop” island will be. Walkers and bikers can now safely take refuge in the area immediately south of where the current concrete island is. There is now a single left-turn lane, down from two.

There is also a marking for a bike lane heading northbound on S. Walter Reed Drive….this will allow bikers heading north to stay in a bike lane while traversing the intersection.

No photos yet but I made a mockup from Google Maps.[ATTACH=CONFIG]15017[/ATTACH]

Here is a photo.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]15104[/ATTACH]

[Brett L.]

@Judd 162591 wrote:

I just don’t understand why we can’t use standard traffic lights for trail crossings.

I’m with Judd. Pedestrian Activated stop-lights generally work fantastic for things like this. So much less confusing…. I can somewhat understand the want for flashing yellow to indicate that drivers should remain cautious, but as Bobco stated, driver confusion leads to unpredictable behaviour. Unpredictable in a 4000 lbs weapon is not a good thing….

[zsionakides]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15104[/ATTACH]
I jog through here, and the main issue is the slip lane for turning right, not the middle lane. The issue is that despite the crosswalk and yield sign, drivers don’t always stop for pedestrians. The worst offenders are the school bus drivers who go through as a convoy.

It would have been better to close off the slip lane and make the middle lane a left/right turn lane. That would shorten the crossing and would be much clearer for drivers that they need to yield right of way.

[Steve O]

@zsionakides 162689 wrote:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15104[/ATTACH]
I jog through here, and the main issue is the slip lane for turning right, not the middle lane. The issue is that despite the crosswalk and yield sign, drivers don’t always stop for pedestrians. The worst offenders are the school bus drivers who go through as a convoy.

It would have been better to close off the slip lane and make the middle lane a left/right turn lane. That would shorten the crossing and would be much clearer for drivers that they need to yield right of way.

For the record, the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee also recommended elimination of the slip lane, but their recommendation was not heeded by traffic engineering.

[Author]

Posts