Carrying Bike Lanes Through Intersections–A Dutch Dream
Video Tuesday
via markenlei
Cut down the conflicts, minimize the ones remaining and improve the roadway experience for everyone involved.
Seems like sound advice for any number of intersections.
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Here in Traverse City, we haven’t even attempted carrying a bike lane through the intersection. Almost every bike lane we have ends at a minimum 20 feet plus before the intersection and the one that does go to an intersection, on Woodmere at 8th St., bicyclists are pinched between a curb and turning automobiles with nowhere else to go…(advice: take the lane or cross as a pedestrian).
We can do better, the models are out there.
mocked up Google Streetview of Woodmere Ave.
That bike lane to nowhere is a joke. I used it a couple times and it seemed dangerous. If I’m riding on the street on Woodmere, I cut onto the sidewalk at Boyd and use the light signals to cross to the TART. I use that intersection frequently and almost never see cyclists using that portion of the bike lane. Come to think of it, I almost never see cyclists using the bike lane on Woodmere at all. They are using the sidewalks instead. I really liked the video. How would it work in roundabouts?
Actually, it’s this intersection that in a certain way mimics a well designed roundabout by offering an opportunity for people on bicycles to be protected through the intersection. It’s not a perfect analogy though. Oddly, the Woodmere/8th intersection would have likely been TC’s first roundabout back in the early 2000′s if it wasn’t for politics.
More on roundabouts and bicycles in a future post.
When I watched the video I thought it seemed like a roundabout for bicycles. Maybe this type of intersection is better than a roundabout? Seems safer for cyclists and pedestrians than a roundabout would be.