Too bad District 2 has no alder. Thanks, Marsha, for filling the gap. Bikies, does anyone live in district 2? (Lake Mendota side of East Wash.)
Al > Marsha, > > Thanks for seeking input on this. > > It may be helpful if we ask the rhetorical question: What is the > appropriate response from the city if road is blocked to all vehicular > traffic during a construction project in a similar manner - i.e. all lanes > in one direction, suddenly, without warning, without anyone present to > help direct traffic? > > Answer: We've come up with a system that enables to keep this from > happening. > > When one direction of automobile flow is completely blocked, there are > signs up ahead of time informing us of the upcoming lane closures. When > available, there are signed detours that allow us to drive around the > construction area, and when necessary, there are members of the > construction crew dedicated to making sure that auto traffic passes > safely. > > It may cost more from the city up front, but I think it should be written > into construction contracts that are on or will spill onto public lands > that bike lanes and bike paths should be safely maintained throughout the > construction project when possible. Otherwise there ought to be ample > signage declaring the lane/path closures, along with reasonable signed > detours for cyclists - meaning that they don't have to dismount or go more > than ~1/4 mile out of their way (this is similar to sending a car ~8 > blocks out of the way on a detour). When a detour is not available, then > auto/cycling traffic should be directed by dedicated construction crew > members as to make it safe for all users of the road. > > As a cyclist sharing the road with cars, I view this as a road rights and > road-use priority issue, but I think the city should put this squarely in > the realm of A-1 public safety. If I were driving a car down E. Johnson > and a bike was forced to suddenly swerve into the lane I was occupying it > puts us, and the other road users around us, all in an extremely dangerous > situation. > > -India Viola > > On 08/30/10, "Rummel, Marsha" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hey All- >> >> One of my constituents emailed me and TE staff wondering what the >> responsibility of contractors is to maintain bike lanes during >> construction. The location in question is Blair at E Johnson. >> >> "Today, for the fourth time in about a week, the bike lane was blocked >> on East Johnson. Right in front of the Krupp construction project--sorry >> I don't know the cross street, but it should be obvious. This is very >> dangerous, a sudden block of a path with no warning, and heavy traffic >> speeding by (far over the speed limit). This isn't the first time this >> has been a problem with construction blocking a bike lane. Specifically >> as this site, there is often debris (sand, gravel, etc), vehicles, and >> materials blocking the path." >> >> David Dryer sent the attached pdf files with the following comments: >> >> "This is an on-street bike lane, TE reviews and makes conditions for two >> types of permits, Street Opening, and Street Occupancy. SOpening permits >> are administered by CE and SOccupancys by BI (for now). When there is a >> violation of the permit and TE is made aware-as people think these are >> TE permits, we contact the contractor and request compliance, we read >> em the riot act, the whole drill---often times they say they will >> comply, some do, some do for a period of time, some do not, and some >> repeat. TE does not have any authority to terminate a permit, to kick a >> permittee out of the street, nor do we have any authority to write a >> citation. We do have the threat of not signing off on a permit >> renewal. It is often cheaper for the permittee to use a street than to >> make accommodations for themselves on private property. We do recognize >> that in an urban setting often there is no alternative than the publics >> space, in those cases then we want accommodations made for the displaced >> public users. They are told this. Attached is a scan of this permit. In >> this instance you can see the blue line on the plan that shows the bike >> lane is to remain open and outside the WZ fence." >> >> My constituent responded after getting the above: "Seems to me that it's >> clearly not working, and that contractors have no incentive (positive or >> negative) to keep public spaces open and safe. And a good example of >> enforcement, review, and control being disconnected. Can you imagine if >> a construction site just randomly closed a car lane during rush >> hour--I'm guessing then there'd be some consequences." >> >> TE read the contractor the 'riot act' but it does seem like there is a >> disconnect...I'd like your advice on this. >> >> Thanks >> Marsha >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Bikies mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > -- > India Viola > Stretton Lab > 115 Zoology Research > 1117 W. Johnson St. > Madison, WI 53706 > 608.262.3336 > > "How can we learn from our mistakes if we don't first acknowledge them?" > -Anonymous > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
