BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

not too good to be true, just ruining the surprise

So like... all the way from Frick to CMU? Are we talking sharrows or the occasional "Share the Road" sign? We should get those green painted lanes like in Europe (and West Coast).

great news!

We should get those green painted lanes like in Europe (and West Coast).

europe and west coast cities that have them are rich cities. i'm not sayint this stuff is off the table, we just have different challenges, than they do. i think it'll happen eventually

That's really cool. Now if we could just get drivers to slow down in between Braddock and Forbes this will be perfect!

Please promise that any sharrows on Forbes will be well outside the door zone, especially in the business district. The ones on Liberty are (were?) marginal. Unfortunately, sharrows don't simply indicate "hey, yeah, bicyclists have a right to be on this road or any other road, and they can figure out where they want to be", they are considered (and are, officially) lane positioning guidance.

According to this interesting discussion I linked to earlier,

the offical standard says the center of the arrow should be "at least 11 feet from the curb." But 11 feet is not fully outside the door zone. So put them "at least 11 feet" -- that is, 13 feet or so.

Very little of Forbes Avenue between Beechwood to Wightman can be safely used by both a bicycle and an automobile at the same time. The automobile simply HAS to cross the center line to pass safely. Given that, there is no reason that they can't move a tiny bit farther left.

Yesterday, I was riding along the Beechwood Blvd "bikeway" when I came upon a woman with her Cadillac parked and her driver's door open. It wasn't dangerous or anything, don't get me wrong, but I was astounded by how far her driver's door extended -- a couple of feet into the primary lane. It also helped that she was parked in a different zipcode from the curb.

I'm only saying - bicyclists get seriously hurt or killed from being doored, and the door zones are lot bigger than people think.

If the city chooses to place cyclists at risk, there ought to be a really good reason.

put as much paint on the road as you can get away with... having fancy european bike lanes with cyclist timed stop lights and bike escalators would be great, but i just like seeing bikes painted all over the place... door zone or not, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm for that. I think that the paint will do a lot of good.

Why are they stopping at Margaret Morrison?

good question. my understanding is that it gets a bit more complex afterward and needs some added engineering (which means cost). it think it will happen, just not all at once. also, cmu would need to come to the table. that could be a good thing, but it's just one more stakeholder that needs to be involved.

Yeah, they could end up pulling a University of Texas.

That sounds odd. Margaret Morrison <-> Craig Street doesn't seem nearly as "complex" as Beechwood <-> Wightman. Very little on-street parking, lots of room for motorists to change lanes to pass, no dedicated right turn lanes (? I think).

think big lyle. it would be a shame to only get sharrows on that stretch if we could do something much more spectacular

I love the hints!

think big lyle.

4 lanes down to 2 from Margaret Morrison to Craig, with *shared* right turn lane for cars at beeler, morewood and craig? full bike lanes?

or 4 lanes to 3, with 4 foot travel lanes for bikes along the outer "remainder?"

Eh. Use caution. It's hard to do spectacular well, and really easy to screw it up and claim it's spectacular, and as long as the change is dramatic enough, the hoi polloi won't ever know the difference anyway...

I think the biggest problem with Forbes between MM and Beeler is that it's way too far between crosswalks. And the crosswalk at Morewood is very very busy.

So, big? How about a couple of pedestrian bridges.

Erok, would that separated bike lanes you are hinting at?

i'm not hinting at anything in particular. i can say there is no specific plan right now. i was saying that just putting sharrows in might not be the best we can do.

Cool, if they can improve the exits from the bike lanes where they approach braddock or dallas that would be great.

-Joe