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Home My WebLink About9/4/2018 Item 15, Rands Purrington, Teresa From:Barry Rands <slobcrands@gmail.com> Sent:Sunday, September 2, 2018 10:59 PM To:E-mail Council Website Subject:Re: Anholm Bikeway Attachments:Left Turn danger.pdf Mayor and City Council, I have attached a diagram that illustrates the left turn hazard that is inherent on two-way cycle tracks with driveways. Under normal circumstances, a left turning motorist only watches out for oncoming traffic. With two-way cycle tracks on Chorro, the motorist must watch out not only for one lane of oncoming cars, but also a lane of oncoming bicycles and one lane of bicycles traveling in the same direction on the left. This left turn maneuver essentially becomes a "left turn from the right lane", complicated by the fact that the cyclists traveling in the same direction are in a very large blind spot due the the extended distance from the car (over 15 feet). There are over a dozen driveways and one uncontrolled intersection (at Mountain View) where left turns are possible. Another problem with two-way cycle tracks is the steep learning curve for both motorists and cyclists. In Columbus, Ohio, two-way cycle tracks were installed in 2015 on the right side of Summit Street, a major one- way thoroughfare in Columbus. According to a recent report, "Between 2012 and 2015, there were five crashes involving bicycles on Summit between Hudson and East 5th Avenue. In 2016, the first full year with the bike lanes, that jumped to 14, according to Columbus police." That is a TENFOLD INCREASE in bicycle accidents during the first year of operation! Keep in mind that Summit is a one-way street, so the left-turn problem described above is not even present. Between the left turn danger and the learning curve, two-way cycle tracks on Chorro are certain to be less safe than what they are perceived to be. Furthermore, because they are perceived as safe, young and/or experienced riders will be attracted to them, thereby increasing the risk of accidents. Based on the above considerations, I trust that the Council will no longer entertain two-way cycle tracks on Chorro as a viable option for the Anholm Bikeway. On Sat, Sep 1, 2018 at 10:23 PM Barry Rands <slobcrands@gmail.com> wrote: Dear Mayor and City Council, I am writing in support of a modified Alternative #3, Proceed with Implementation of the Approved Northern and Southern Sections and Defer Decision on the Middle Section. In working together over the past months City Staff and local Anholm residents have come very close to a bikeway design that will increase rider safety and rider numbers while at the same time benefiting the neighborhood with slower traffic and improved pedestrian facilities. Give them another few weeks to come up with a design that will benefit cyclists and local residents. As I have stated before, the two-way cycle track option is inherently unsafe both during the learning curve phase and in the long term because motorists entering their driveways from the south will be essentially making "left turns from the right lane", (as they cross cycling traffic in their blind spot on their left going in the same direction) a hazard that cannot be mitigated or "gotten used to". What makes it even worse is that cyclists will have a "perceived" sense of safety in their "protected" bike lanes, making them less aware of the inherent danger of the space they are riding in. Whatever design configuration is eventually adopted, it is absolutely essential to have a robust education component for both motorists and cyclists on how to use the new facilities. Educational workshops and PSAs on TV and in social media can be used, similar to what the City of Santa Maria has done for pedestrian/motorist interactions https://www.cityofsantamaria.org/city-government/departments/police-services/hot-topics/traffic-safety-drivers-and- 1 pedestrians. I have personally observed a close call in a green bike lane because neither the motorist nor the cyclist new the proper way to travel through or across a green bike lane. -- Barry Rands, Advocate San Luis Obispo Bicycle Club (805) 704-1549 (cell) www.slobc.org Right-click or tap and hold here to download pictures. To help protect your privacy, Outlook prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet. -- Barry Rands, Advocate San Luis Obispo Bicycle Club (805) 704-1549 (cell) www.slobc.org Right-click or tap and hold here to download pictures. To help protect your privacy, Outlook prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet. 2 the (.�olumbu� 13-iqatch More crashes come with more bicycle traffic on dedicated lanes By Rick Rouan .................................. The Columbus Dispatch Posted Apr 29, 2018 at 5:00 AM Updated Apr 29, 2018 at 6:20 AM The first protected bike lane in Columbus is attracting more cyclists — and more crashes — to a stretch of Summit Street through the University District. Bicycle traffic on Summit, between E. Hudson Street and 11th Avenue, has ticked up since the two-way bike lane opened in September 2015 along with a larger repaving project that included bike lanes stretching through Downtown on 3rd and 4th streets. At the same time, though, the number of crashes has jumped. Between 2012 and 2015, there were five crashes involving bicycles on Summit between Hudson and East 5th Avenue. In 2016, the first full year with the bike lanes, that jumped to 14, according to Columbus police. "It could be attributed to obviously the number of riders has increased and also that it's a new project and there is a break-in period for something like this," said Nick Popa, a city engineer. The city is studying the protected bike lane to satisfy an agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation, which funded the repaving and lane realignment of Summit, 3rd and 4th streets. Popa said the city will submit a report to ODOT this summer. But that study is limited only to the two-way, protected bike lane; the city isn't tracking how many cyclists are using the lanes that run through Downtown. The two-way bike lane is separated from traffic by concrete medians and on -street parking, a first in Columbus and a rare sight across the state. ODOT wants data about the protected bike lane so it can determine whether the idea should be replicated elsewhere. "We're always looking for ways to expand bike and pedestrian as a mode of transportation," said Matt Bruning, ODOT spokesman. City officials said the evaluation could help determine whether Columbus could do similar projects in other areas. Popa said the city is analyzing the number of rides taken in the bike lanes, crashes, where in the lanes cyclists are riding, whether cyclists are observing traffic signals, and other factors. It is collecting traffic counts and analyzing hundreds of hours of video recordings. "We expected an uptick in usage before we did the project," he said. "It wasn't unexpected that we saw an increase in ridership." The city analyzed bike traffic at three intersections in the area for 15 days in May 2015 before installing the bike lanes. It recorded an average of 2,570 rides across those intersections during that time. That number dipped in spring 2016, but jumped to nearly 3,100 in 2017. In the falls of 2016 and 2017, the city recorded an average of about 4,600 rides across those three intersections. "The more of these projects that do get done and more evaluations like we're doing do get done, the more it builds into that evidence base of this is what we can expect from things like this," said Scott Ulrich, city bike coordinator. Sgt. Brooke Wilson, of the Columbus Police Division's accident investigation unit, said in an email that the uptick in crashes could be a result of bicyclists and drivers adapting to a new piece of infrastructure. None of the crashes since 2012 was fatal. The city has been evaluating the area to see whether it needs to make changes, too, Popa said. For example, the city plans to remove a parking space at Summit Street and 14th Avenue, to make it easier for cars turning onto Summit to see oncoming traffic. Doreen Uhas-Sauer, who leads the University Area Commission, said she has heard few complaints about the bike lanes. During the winter, the lanes often were clear of snow when sidewalks and streets were still covered or slushy, making it easier to travel there. "Quite honestly, in an area as densely populated with vehicles of all sorts and people, I think it has worked very well," she said. rrouan@dispatch.com ............................................................................ @RickRouan .............................................. DRIVEWAY BLIND SPOT CYCLE TRACKS LEFT TURN HAZARD