BIKE: SoCo

[Eric Anderson]

Bike folks:

Re: Diagonally striped SOCO non-travel lane on north-bound Congress,
Jeffrey is correct that it is not a travel lane. However, it is a fine
space for cyclists.

I brought up the same concern when striped just over a year ago, when the
SOCO CAG was assembled. Both then bike coordinator Linda DuPriest and COA
traffic engineers confirmed that it is a defacto bike-lane, just like
-diamond lanes- downtown when they are not used for unloading.

One could argue that the SOCO lane should be signed?, use diamonds, or
perhaps, just give us the damn bike lanes!

Eric

--- Thorne <jeffrey.thorne> wrote:

> On second thought, I should amend my position:
> 
> Between Nellie and Annie and maybe farther south than that, a cyclist
> would
> benefit by having more room created in the lane by replacing angled
> parking
> with parallel parking--no bike lane stripe in the door zone please!  I
> didn't
> mention that before because I thought the idea is too much for the
> businesses
> to take, with a net reduction in parking, or so it had already been
> decided. 
> Is a parking solution available?  Maybe Stuart can help with revisiting
> that.
> 
> Also, I'm unclear about how the construction on Congress over by the
> School
> for the Deaf and south of Nellie will affect cycling traffic.  I'm sure
> Stuart
> is on that too.  How is that supposed to look?
> 
> Another situation on Congress is that wide painted area in the
> northbound lane
> by the apartments and Starbuck's.  With it painted like that, it plainly
> isn't
> a traffic lane, so I feel odd riding in that area.  On the other hand,
> the
> traffic lane immediately left of it is too narrow for autos to pass
> cyclists
> while remaining in that lane.  If that painted area were just a bit
> narrower,
> the lane to its left could be made wide enough to accomodate a bike and
> a car
> safely.  I'd prefer that to having to take the lane and push passing
> autos
> over to the left lane.
> 
> Jeff (amended)
> 
> ------ Original Message ------
> Received: Mon, 04 Oct 2004 09:20:22 AM CDT
> From: Thorne <jeffrey.thorne>
> To: <forum>
> Subject: RE: BIKE: SoCo CAG -- Requests for Bike/Ped Proposals
> 
> 
> Subject: RE: BIKE: SoCo CAG -- Requests for Bike/Ped Proposals
> 
> I tend to agree with Ralph.  I ride that stretch north of Ben White
> often and
> have never had any real trouble.  I can't imagine how to improve it
> significantly, but I imaging Stuart has a job to do making sure that
> whatever
> plans are afoot don't make it worse instead.
> 
> Please keep us posted, Stuart.
> 
> Jeff
> 
> ------ Original Message ------
> Received: Sun, 03 Oct 2004 02:08:48 PM CDT
> From: "forjador" <forjador>
> To: stuwerb, aca, forum: 
> Subject: RE: BIKE: SoCo CAG -- Requests for Bike/Ped Proposals
> 
> Stuart-
> 
> Is there any flexibility for SoCoCag to interpret its charge?  If so,
> I'd
> suggest that they look further south on Congress, beyond Ben White on
> down
> to Slaughter.  Road conditions get miserable pretty fast...bike
> lanes--and
> even shoulders--disappear, the pavement edges are crumbling, and
> conditions
> are generally poor for riding safely.  By comparison, Congress north of
> Ben
> White is already quite plush, with wide shoulders and well-defined bike
> lanes.  Sure seems to me that the more southerly stretch is in greater
> need
> of improvement than the inner section of Congress that you've described.
> 
> Many citizens and riders live and ride south of Ben White/71.  That's my
> $0.02.
> 
> Thanks,
> Ralph
> 
> Original Message:
> -----------------
> From: Stuart Werbner stuwerb
> Date: Sun, 03 Oct 2004 13:17:31 -0500
> To: ACA, forum
> Subject: BIKE: SoCo CAG -- Requests for Bike/Ped Proposals
> 
> 
> Fellow Brothers, Sisters, and Others in the Cycling Community:
> 
> I am currently representing the bicycle community on the South Congress 
> Community Advisory Group (SoCo CAG).
> 
> After a brief respite of 1-year (in the timescale of the city), we are 
> resuming meetings to decide how to spend about $3M in suitable roadway 
> improvements. These roadway improvements are prescribed by a 1998 bond 
> issue. The improvements must be limited to the S. Congress corridor
> between 
> Riverside Dr. and the Ben White Expwy.
> 
> As the bicycle community representative, I plan to champion proposals
> that 
> will advance access and safety for bicyclists and pedestrians. In
> addition, 
> I will work cooperatively with the other CAG members to be an advocate
> for 
> the interests of bicyclists and pedestrians.
> 
> If you have any specific proposals or suggestions in mind for the SoCo
> area, 
> please contact me.
> 
> Best regards, and am looking forward to hearing from you.
> 
>    __o
> _`\<,_
> (*)/ (*)
> ~~~~~~~~~
> Stuart Werbner
> Annuit Coeptis
> 
> "Bring our boy home from D.C."
> 
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=====
Eric Anderson <bikeeric>
(512) 476-7304


		
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