Here’s a follow-up to my previous video of bicycle infrastructure in suburban Wilmington, Delaware. What you will see is painted shoulders with bicycle lane markings. But simply putting lane markings on a shoulder does not create a proper bicycle lane. These lanes demonstrate a complete lack of understanding about how to handle intersections. These lanes [...]
You’ll recall that I took my recent CyclingSavvy class through the diverging diamond intersection at I-44 and Kansas Expressway. It’s scary looking. But, given the traffic speeds, it is rather easily negotiable by bicycle. Walking through it, however, is another matter, according to the following critique: I disagree with the narrator’s comments about driving this [...]
Please be careful what you ask for, that is. There’s a movement afoot at the Bicycle Friendly Springfield group on Facebook to have Springfield bicyclists send postcards to the mayor requesting more bicycle friendliness in Springfield. The post cards are available at local bicycle shops. Fill it out. Send it in. Be heard. Good idea! [...]
Wow. Newsy day transportation-wise in Springfield. Check it out. Grand St. at MSU Eyed for Improvement: Never was their a better stretch of road needing some attention to make the lives of pedestrians and non-motorized traffic better. A preliminary design shows the project would cost around $2 million to pay for upgrades of traffic lights at both [...]
Tom Vanderbilt — author of a book everyone should read — wrote about the diverging diamond intersection in his column for Slate. The first one in the U.S. was built right here in Springfield. I’ll be taking my CyclingSavvy class through that intersection tomorrow Technorati Tags: bicycle education, cycling, cyclingsavvy, traffic design
The new bicycle facilities on Division St. between Broadway and Benton are not quite complete, but I decided to make a video today because the weather was just soooooo nice You will see the 5-lane section east of Campbell that Traffic Engineer David Hutchison said (in an e-mail message) will have “shared lanes.” I assume [...]
My thanks to Keri Caffrey, of Commute Orlando and CyclingSavvy, for creating these graphics to help explain the situation on Benton Ave. Click to enlarge. Graphic #1: Current situation on Benton Ave. Graphic #2: Benton Ave. with sharrows. Also see this excellent series of graphics explaining Best Practice Bikeway Design for a 23 ft. Lane with Street [...]
A new bicycle lane has appeared on Benton Ave. from roughly Central St. to Commercial St. I say “appeared” because I had no idea this was coming. I’ve been operating under the impression that the city was uninterested in painting new lanes. Now, I have been busy this summer and traveling. I missed the last [...]
Take a look at this video of pedestrian accommodations on the diverging diamond at I-44 and Kansas Expressway. Hmmmmm… Technorati Tags: pedestrian safety, traffic design, walking
An open letter to city councilman Tommy Bieker: I read with interest what you wrote on the Bicycle Friendly Springfield Facebook page yesterday: Good Afternooon Bicycle Friendly Springfield. I recently had a luncheon with staff and requested we take a more serious approach to a dedicated bike lane system. I had a video that I showed [...]
The Holy Grail of bicycle advocacy is numbers of kiesters in saddles on two wheels on the road. Some advocates are willing to do almost anything to increase participation — including putting novices in danger. There’s a “but”: It appears rather clear that the more people who ride bicycles in a given area the safer [...]
You want to increase bicycle participation and safety for all road users? Apparently the way to do it is create a bicycle-friendly city — one with a dense grid pattern, narrow streets, and calmed traffic. That almost sounds like the urban core of Springfield. Beyond Safety in Numbers discusses the work of Norman Garrick and [...]
Five members of the STAR Team of Ozarks Greenways toured the bicycle/pedestrian facilities in Columbia, Mo. on June 23-24. Columbia has earned a silver level Bicycle Friendly Community award from the League of American Bicyclists. GetAbout Columbia is the city program primarily responsible for the infrastructure. From its website: In 2006, Columbia, Missouri was selected [...]
Fun in NYC! BTW, the actions of the officer and the powers-that-be who put people in danger (or allow it to happen) is immoral. It doesn’t matter that it’s his job or it’s the law (if it is). It doesn’t matter what their intentions are. Technorati Tags: bicycle infrastructure, bicycle safety, cycling, traffic design, traffic [...]
Want to die in traffic? Go for a walk. Here’s a list of the top ten cities for pedestrian fatalities/injuries (with my knee-jerk observations): 1. Orlando: Big, wide traffic sewers and a critical mass of old folks behind the wheel. 2. Tampa: Ditto. 3. Jacksonville: Ditto. 4. Miami: Ditto. 5. Riverside, Calif.: A sea of asphalt — [...]
