BIKE: attn: Round Rock/Williamson County cyclists: meeting Thursday, July 15, 7 PM

[Thorne]

Thanks, Lane, for that nice ASCII illustration of a dangerous and
ill-considered bike facility.  I second your criticisms and would also like to
note a couple of other dangers the plan presents:

(1) such a facility would also invite pedestrians to walk it (as I've seen
here in Austin), making cycling dangerous for the cyclists and pedestrians as
well.  I do note that the facilities are planned to be "located within
elementary, middle
> and high school walk zones," so why would we expect otherwise?  

(2) such a facility puts some of the bicycle traffic riding in the direction
of automobile traffic and some of the bicycle traffic riding against the
direction of automobile traffic.  That has been shown to be roughly 4 times as
dangerous as riding in the street in the right direction (if we can apply
wrong-direction sidewalk riding accident statitstics to the two-way path, and
I don't see why not).  Intersecting automobile traffic is unlikely to see the
wrong-way cyclists coming from an unexpected direction.

I would also go further and warn against two-way bike paths NOT next to the
roadway as studies show that riding such segregated paths is more dangerous
overall than riding in the streets with the cars, which is contrarly to the
common expectations about what presents a danger to a cyclist.

The point must be stressed, when we're talking what to do about operating
bicycles on the roadways, that EVERY LANE is a BIKE LANE and segregating bikes
from motor traffic is founded on the false idea that cycling among the cars
cannot be safe.  In fact, cycling AS traffic with the other traffic is safe
enough and segregating the cyclist leads to more danger for the cyclist.  Even
the bike lane stripe can be more confusing than helpful in managing bicycle
traffic in many places.

Thanks for bringing Amy's update into the discussion.

Jeff
"Lane S. Wimberley" <lane> wrote:

Hi Amy.  Thanks for the update.  Very glad to see that you and others
are taking some initiative on behalf of the Round Rock commuters.

A. Gelfand excerpts the email she received from the Dept. of
Transportation, which gives some general information about the nature
of their bike plan:
> "Accommodations for bicycles are new to the Transportation Master Plan this
> year.  

Well, craw-daw!  ;-)

> Where possible, the bicycle element will also provide two-way
> bicycle facilities on arterials located within elementary, middle
> and high school walk zones.

>From our experience here in Austin, specifically with Great Northern
and perhaps other places, you may wish to ensure that the plan does
NOT include contiguous two-way bicycle lanes next to and contiguous
with two-way automobile lanes, like  (warning: ASCII art -- sorry!)

         Auto      Auto   Bike/Bike
      |         |         |   |   |
      |    |    |    ^    |   |   |
      |    |    |    |    | V | ^ |
      |    |    |    |    | V | ^ |
      |    |    |    |    | V | ^ |
      |    V    |    |    |   |   |
      |         |         |   |   |

I have personally found, and I think the general consensus is that,
this is just really bad design.  Uncomfortable at best; dangerous at
worst.

> Typically, the arterial bicycle element will be a hard surface located
> outside the pavement, but within the right-of-way.

Again, having "separate but equal" facilities is vastly inferior to
having facilities tightly integrated with existing traffic
infrastructure.  Consider making a left turn at an intersection if you
are on a bicycle path that is separated from the traffic lanes.  Since
all pavement will likely be at-grade in most cases, you will probably
be forced to cross at least four lanes of traffic as a pedestrian
rather than flowing with traffic as traffic.

(That said, I recall some discussion on this topic some months ago
wherein it was mentioned that the Dutch, I believe, have built many
separate but equal facilities, and they seem to really like them --
IIRC.  Your mileage may vary, I suppose.)

Having just returned from a lengthy driving trip across Colorado with
the family, I was very impressed with the extent to which that state
seems to have gone to build out bike infrastructure, both local and
inter-city.  There are very impressive paved routes for many miles
along the stunningly scenic I-70 corridor through Glenwood Springs
canyon, among many other spots along I-70.  And, I saw many bicycle
signs along even the interstates, indicating to motorists that the
interstate is a shared transportation facility, and to expect bicycles
(on the shoulders) even way out there in the middle of nowhere.

It would be a dream if Texas would adopt such smart policies.  Signs
along rural roadways would be a start, and adopting policies of
ensuring that new and redesigned/re-paved existing country roads
included adequate shoulder suitable for bikes -- at least along
designated cross-state bike routes -- would be even better.

-Lane

_______________________________________________________________________
Lane Wimberley             8303 N. MoPac, Suite A-300  Austin, TX 78759
Wayport, Inc.                512.519.6195 (voice)    512.519.6200 (fax)

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