On 8/7/2012 7:36 AM, Grant Foster wrote:
So, first of all, cheers to the newly finished section of Fish Hatchery. The bike lanes are twice as good as they were before. Not only is it fresh smooth asphalt, but the storm water grates come out into the lane much less than they used to. Overall, I'd say it's very useable. They still collect a ton of debris and I'm not sure what the City/Town of Madison needs to do to step up the sweeping of this road? Of course, I still avoid riding this route whenever possible, because traffic is way too fast and way too close to really be safe for cyclists. Too bad we didn't get a segregated path in this important cooridor....
The City of Madison is responsible for this area. Make a complaint at https://www.cityofmadison.com/reportaproblem/. Sweeping is scheduled to improve the quality of storm water runoff, and extra runs can be scheduled if there's glass or too much gravel in the bike lane or if otherwise needed to make riding safe and more pleasurable for cyclists.
But my question is about the lane markings northbound at Badger. The bike lane markings stop 25 feet before the intersection and a new bike lane to the left of the new right turn lane appears five feet from the intersection. There are no markings in between these two and it feels very confusing for cyclists and motorists. Is this really the best we can do? What's the most effective way to handle this scenario (through bike lane crossing over a newly formed right turn lane). It seems that a dashed white diagonal line giving continuity to the bike lane would help direct cyclists in a predictable way and would signal to motorists the need for caution as they 'break' this line of cyclist travel. Any thoughts?
I bike through this stretch 3-4 times a week. It is much improved over the previous conditions, but I agree, it could be better. Two treatments come to mind: (1) a green bike lane with dashed white line borders, or (2) a line of shared use markings ("sharrows"), say three or four, diagonally arranged between the right edge bike lane to the south and the left edge bike through lane at Badger Rd. I would recommend (2) considering the amount of bike traffic (only moderate) through this corridor and the cost of installing and maintaining a green lane. If traffic builds, because of the improved facility and the Cannonball path completion next year, (1) could easily be painted over (2).
Whether (1) or (2) is used, the weave area should be announced by a "Begin Right Turn Lane, Yield to Bikes" sign (MUTCD R4-4).
I've reported both the need for sweeping and my suggestion for the weave area to traffic engineering (Cc) and on the Report a Problem page. Traffic engineering, please send your response to the list, too.
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