L Street to 15th Street turn

[amyp]

I regularly commute home on the L street bikelane and make a right turn onto 15th street. What is the proper way to make this turn (right turn from a left hand lane to a right hand lane)? If the light on L St is green, I usually inch up until I am at the crosswalk, and then cross with the light onto 15th street. However, this annoys bikes behind me who want to go straight, since I block the bikelane. It is hard to get to the right or left because there are car lanes on either side. Any suggestions? I hate pissing off other bikers!

Topic

[oxie]

I’ve had this issue too, since my favorite commute route involves taking 17th to L to 15th. WABA has a Cycletrack 101 page that gives the following options for turning right from the L St lane:

-Wait for a pedestrian signal and cross traffic in the crosswalk.
-Maneuver in line with the traffic waiting at the cross street. Proceed across the intersection when the light changes.
-If you are comfortable doing so, before reaching the intersection, merge into the main roadway and over to the rightmost lane, then turn as normal. Remember to yield to oncoming traffic and be safe, if you choose this method.

I’ve personally found that the last one works best for me at 15th St — so I just basically stay in the right lane for the couple blocks that I’m on L St. If you’re on L St for a while, though, maybe it would be best to wait til you hit your last red light before 15th and use that as an opportunity to get over to the far right lane?

[UrbanEngineer]

@oxie 52459 wrote:

-Wait for a pedestrian signal and cross traffic in the crosswalk.
.

Sounds like this is what amyp does but there isn’t any place to wait except for in the way of other cyclists.

@oxie 52459 wrote:

-Maneuver in line with the traffic waiting at the cross street. Proceed across the intersection when the light changes.
.

This is basically turning left onto 15th and then maneuvering to direct yourself south. Not always easy when you have cyclists behind you also turning left to head north. If you’re going with this approach, I don’t often times recommend hopping onto the sidewalk, but in this case, if clear, there is a curb cut just before this intersection that will put you on the sidewalk for just a short bit which will then make you’re maneuvering to head south less of a headache.

@oxie 52459 wrote:

-If you are comfortable doing so, before reaching the intersection, merge into the main roadway and over to the rightmost lane, then turn as normal. Remember to yield to oncoming traffic and be safe, if you choose this method
.

This is what I do.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@UrbanEngineer 52461 wrote:

This is what I do.

Me too.

[dasgeh]

I was happy to see (on washcycle) that the M St cycletrack is going to have at least some specific places for cyclists turning left to sit and wait.

[Author]

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