BIKE: SoCo bike accomodations

[Fred Meredith]

Eric et al,

That section of South Congress that has that wide and undefined are 
on the northbound and the section just south of it on the southbound 
side where the parking begins to crowd bikes into a reduced number of 
travel lanes would possibly be great places for paint and signage to 
clarify the situation (all official authorizations aside). I would 
suggest that Shared Lane Symbols (sharrows) would work just fine on 
the northbound downhill if they were placed where a good vehicular 
cyclist would be riding and therefore indicate to both cyclists and 
motorists the best place for bike riders or to expect to find bike 
riders (even though at our current level of bike education you should 
look just about anywhere and everywhere for someone on a bike).

On the southbound side, where the street narrows and the angle 
parking squeezes everyone including cyclists into one of only two 
normal travel lanes, signage seems the logical first action to take. 
A sign as you approach that block could read, "All traffic, including 
bicycles, move left," or even "Watch for bicycles merging left," or 
"Bicycles take right through lane." And, yes, sharrow markings would 
also work there as well.

Fred (still at Interbike in Las Vegas, a really bicycle unfriendly 
town) Meredith

At 9:36 AM -0700 10/7/04, Eric Anderson wrote:
>Jeff:
>
>Of course you are right on the space being relatively undefined.
>
>What I should have said, is that COA traffic engineers regarded it as
>"fine" for bicyclists to use this defacto? bike lane, which previously was
>a defacto travel-lane.
>
>Though I may get flamed to suggest this, I believe some direction in the
>right direction is still forward movement, if only incremental. The
>question is: How can we support Stuart Werbner as our representative, and
>with this round of funding, actually achieve something.
>
>As far as immediate solutions, this lane could be signed more clearly,
>identifying its function, marked with diamonds rather than cross-hatches
>(consistent with COA non-travel lanes downtown). My other thought would
>have an up-hill bike lane combined with a down-hill bike-bus diamond lane
>(with sharrows perhaps).
>
>We should be working with COA Bike Program to figure out how to get bike
>lanes the whole stretch from Oltorf to Downtown! The trick of course will
>be how to get (a bike lane) past SOCO businesses. Achieving this goal will
>require leadership, cooperation, and partnership, abilities which seem
>lacking from our ranks.
>
>Toward this end, perhaps a SOCO CAG sub-committee needs to be convened to
>exclusively discuss bicycle accomodations.
>
>Eric Anderson <bikeeric>
>(512) 476-7304
>
>--- Thorne <jeffrey.thorne> wrote:
>
>>  Thanks, Eric.  Depends on what you mean by "fine space."  It's not
>>  recognizable as a travel lane for a car or a bike.  It appears to be
>>  there to
>>  give space to delivery trucks and folks backing out of parking and such.
>>   For
>>  bicycle travel down Congress, it's the rough equivalent of riding the
>>  sidewalk
>>  or a parking lot, i.e., a relatively lawless area where you can't really
>>  predict where the next hazard will come from.  Defacto bike lane my
>>  arse.
>>  It's poor design and thinking of it as a cycleway treats cyclists as
>>  other
>>  than legitimate traffic.
>>
>>  Usually, I ride the lane.  When I ride the space, only if traffic is
>>  really
>>  heavy, I ride just right of the travel lane--that is just about the
>>  space I'd
>>  ride if the lane was a bit wider as I proposed.  Others ride it near the
>>  curb,
>>  and some of those are riding against traffic--not so safe.
>>
>>  ------ Original Message ------
>>  Received: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 11:41:20 PM CDT
>>  From: Eric Anderson <bikeeric>
>>  To: forum: Thorne <jeffrey.thorne>
>>  Subject: RE: BIKE: SoCo
>>
>>  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)
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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--
When in doubt ... ride your bike (or at least write about it).

Fred Meredith
P.O. Box 100 (12702 Lowden Ln for UPS/FedEx)
Manchaca, TX 78652
512/282-1987 (office/home)
512/282-7413 (fax)
512/636-7480 (wireless)
More than you want to know at: http://2merediths.com

_______________________________________________
Get on or off this list here:  http://BicycleAustin.info/list
-- 
When in doubt ... ride your bike (or at least write about it).

Fred Meredith
P.O. Box 100 (12702 Lowden Ln for UPS/FedEx)
Manchaca, TX 78652
512/282-1987 (office/home)
512/282-7413 (fax)
512/636-7480 (wireless)
More than you want to know at: http://2merediths.com