BIKE: Re-evaluation of SCB CE's

[kristen theiler]

Oh my. I'd love to see someone propose this to the residents on SCB and capture the result on film! Some cried about not having parking (free) on both sides of the street and now you'd ask them to pay $500 for a permit? SCB isn't a downtown residential neighborhood where parking is at a premium and students may take all the spots.

Michael Zakes <watcyc> wrote:
after riding SCB last night for the first time since the CEs went in, I
think we as a community got hosed since now there is a "de facto" parking
lane in the spot where a bike lane should be. my battery was out on my main
light, so I was running just my backup lights, which worked OK for
illuminating the CEs, but I'd hate to try it without any lights. however, I
think there can be a relatively simple solution that can actually use this
to our advantage.
in the North University area there are several streets that are signed
as "Resident Parking Only" which keeps them from being overwhelmed by
students driving to UT. there's a pack of parking permits that you buy (2
permanent stickers, 2 mirror hangtags.)
this could be adapted so that the bike lane would go back to standard
size on the straighter sections, SCB is signed as RPO, where the permanent
stickers run ~$500/year, but with the benefit that the bike lane and double
yellow in front of their house is striped wide enough to allow for a parking
spot with ample passing distance. this would act as a traffic calming
device, much like the earlier plan of one side parking or the current CEs.
folks would be able to buy packs of temporary parking hangtags so if they
were having a party, guests, etc they could use them on a per day basis, so
while it would be an inconvenience to cyclists since these would allow
people to park in the bike lanes, the added cost would discourage regular on
street parking. areas where there are lots of curves could just get RPO
signs and sharrows/"Share The Road" signs.

Ideas/thoughts/comments/improvements welcome

Michael F Zakes, prop.
Waterloo Cycles
2815 Fruth
Austin TX 78705
512.472.9253

"I think the burden is on those people who think he didn't have weapons of
mass
destruction to tell the world where they are."

Ari Fleischer, on July 9, 2003.


mail


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Dahmus" 
To: "Lane Wimberley" 
Cc: "Austin Bikes" 
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 7:44 AM
Subject: Re: BIKE: Re-evaluation of SCB CE's


> Lane Wimberley wrote:
>
> >Bike folks,
> >
> >I have been riding SCB daily for some weeks now, and I have changed my
> >mind, I now like the CEs in the bike lanes. It was a good thing to do.
> >
> >Here's why, If a car is coming your way you can get near the CE and the
> >cars stay away, it has a zone of protection around it. I have used this
> >several times. Lets face it, car drivers are not getting any smarter and
> >the situation is getting worse out there. But the CEs do provide a
> >safety zone when cars are around.
> >
> >Anyway, thats how I see it.
> >
> >
> I've only been riding approximately weekly, and I never thought the CEs
> were the problem, and I still don't. The only irritant is the branches
> which will supposedly be pruned as the trees get taller.
>
> I doubt very much, though, that the cars are afraid to get close enough
> to the CEs to have much of an effect. It's probably more that the cars
> that are passing you are being careful because they see _you_ - this
> works because most motorists don't really want to buzz cyclists. Traffic
> engineering isn't the art of handling the best drivers, of course, it's
> the art of figuring out how to deal with the rest of them.
>
> In other words, the CEs aren't doing much harm to cyclists, but they
> aren't doing much good either. They're certainly not slowing automobiles
> down, which was the theory promoted by Stuart et al. (And this was
> predicted in this very forum and in other places - the CEs would have to
> go to the edge of the 10-foot through lane in order to have the kind of
> effect they do in normal installations). These CEs do more to slow fast
> _cyclists_ than they do to speeding motorists.
>
> By the way, I wrote in last week to try to clarify something I thought
> the reporter got wrong about your letter - I emphasized that the
> "obstructions in the channel" you talked about were cars, not CEs. I
> hope I got it right.
>
> - MD
>
> - MD
>
> _______________________________________________
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>



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