I wish they'd do something like that here along South Congress south of downtown. That area has a lot of shops and restaurants. Congress is a wide, 6 lane wide street with a lot of traffic, being that it's the main artery into downtown. The street has angled parking at those businesses. There is a bike lane, but it kind of peters out in some areas and isn't always marked, especially through the section of angled parking. Cars generally give you room, but there are some spots where you'll have a big pickup or something hanging out of its space. So then you have to swerve around them which puts you into traffic. Cars usually stay at least 3 feet away, but the speed limit along there is 35 to 40 mph, so it can be hairy. It would be sweet if they had dedicated bike lanes near the curb and put the parking out there. But I guess it would be a problem then with bicycles plowing into pedestrians who stepped into the bike boulevard.
We do have at least one street in downtown that is planned to have a bike boulevard, Nueces Street on the west side of downtown. |
http://www.austin360.com/recreation/...inglePage=true
Quote:
|
Here are a couple pics displaying Vancouver's style of cycling lanes. These were implemented last year.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5183/...54d22813_b.jpg http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5149/...b5cd70c3_b.jpg Pics are my own Cheers http://www.flickr.com/photos/30634635@N03/ |
^^ those photos (and lanes) are SWEET! I'd love to see some of those in downtown LA.
|
^ Thats a serious cycle track.
|
Check out BIXI Toronto’s 80 downtown bike locations on one interactive map:
https://toronto.bixi.com/ http://www.torontolife.com/daily/inf...teractive-map/ Quote:
http://www.torontolife.com/daily/wp-...oronto-map.jpg |
Spring brings growth of regional public bicycle program Capital Bikeshare
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...EXE_story.html Quote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/201...-bikeshare.jpg |
‘Cycle tracks’ in cities could save bicyclists lives
May 3rd, 2011 Read More: http://newurbannetwork.com/article/%...ts-lives-14657 Quote:
http://newurbannetwork.com/sites/def...eed-stree_.jpg http://newurbannetwork.com/sites/def...ycle-track.jpg http://newurbannetwork.com/sites/def...le-section.jpg |
As a bit of a follow up to the recent photos of Vancouver's new downtown cycle tracks I thought I would post a few shots of what Vancouver's bicycle routes look like in the more residential areas of the city. Vancouver's goal is to have traffic calmed bicycle friendly streets immediately adjacent, or very close, to all the city's main streets outside of the downtown core where separated cycle tracks are planned. Traffic calming on these residential side streets includes giving cyclists the right of way at intersections or using small round-abouts in lieu of four-way stops, blocking through access to vehicles on the perpendicular streets, installing cyclist controlled traffic lights at major intersections, occasionally even dead-ending the street while permitting bicycles and pedestrians to flow through. Signage has generally been poor but that is improving, especially on approaching streets so that vehicles have some warning and can take extra caution, especially at night when way too many drivers look for the wash of headlights when they approach an intersection and sometimes blow through a stop sign if they think the coast is clear. That is instead of actually stopping and looking before proceeding. Plus the additional signage is essential for helping new cyclists navigate the nascent cycling network that otherwise looks little different than a normal residential side street.
I happened to be out in the middle of the day when the roads were quiet enough to feel comfortable taking a couple of pictures as I rode. Unfortunately it also meant that these photos are not at all representative of the level of bicycle (and increasingly skateboard) traffic Vancouver's bike routes receive during the rush hour blitz. I'll try to snap some of those when I can. 7th Avenue "off Broadway" route. This one is less popular than the route in the following pictures but it serves a valuable role as a major east-west route that is down slope from Broadway. http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/207...11p1240808.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 3rd, 2011. 10th Avenue "cross town" route. This is the east-west backbone of the city and a very heavily used corridor every other time than the moments I took these photos. http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/9...routemay32.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 3rd, 2011. http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2...blossomsma.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 3rd, 2011. http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/757...011p124085.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 3rd, 2011. |
NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide
http://nacto.org/wp-content/themes/t...nacto-logo.gif Read More: http://nacto.org/cities-for-cycling/design-guide/ Quote:
Bike Lanes: http://nacto.org/cities-for-cycling/...de/bike-lanes/ Cycle Tracks: http://nacto.org/cities-for-cycling/.../cycle-tracks/ Intersections: http://nacto.org/cities-for-cycling/...on-treatments/ Signals: http://nacto.org/cities-for-cycling/...cycle-signals/ Signs: http://nacto.org/cities-for-cycling/...gning-marking/ |
As city considers new bike lanes, report says Phila. leads big cities in bike commuting
May 10, 2011 By Troy Graham http://articles.philly.com/images/skinny-nav-logo.gif Read More: http://articles.philly.com/2011-05-1...h-clark-stuart Quote:
|
So I suppose Portland or Seattle aren't big cities?^ How strange.
Regardless, this is good news for Philly. Hopefully other cities can match their level of biking. |
If I remember correctly, that statement defines "big city" as one of the country's ten largest, which explains why Portland and Seattle aren't mentioned. Interestingly, much of the growth in Philly's bike population took place long before City Hall began taking bike infrastructure seriously at all, which goes to show that bike lanes are only one (still very important) part of the equation. Even without separated lanes, the city has some of the best "bones" to make biking work: a dense yet very compact city center, narrow streets on a tight grid, and relatively slow car traffic. With more bike lanes in Center City, it's going to get so much better!
|
Feds could cut off cash for bike paths, sidewalks
May 5, 2011 By Dan Tracy Read More: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,2426021.story Quote:
|
I like the idea of bike lanes and repaired sidewalks. But I strongly object to the federal government being involved in this. This is a decision that should be made by local cities out of their own funds and only if there is local support. If funds are not available for sidewalk repair, the city should very seriously rethink what they are spending money on and why this has priority over sidewalks. They may even find ways to reorder priorities. Providing more federal money is just an excuse to avoid the hard decisions and to create more "one size fits all" programs.
|
[Vancouver] Hornby Street cycle track photo | May 12th 2011
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/554...eorgiamay1.jpg
http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011. This is a photo I took today during my lunch hour of part of Vancouver's new downtown cycle track network. This photo shows the Hornby Street cycle track, the city's newest, and it is looking north towards the CBD part of downtown. Hornby Street is a fairly important one-way street which previously had a one-way painted bicycle lane situated between on-street parking and the travel lane. It received use but was difficult to access from the Burrard Bridge where bridge deck space was reallocated to create two protected cycle tracks that saw more than a million bicycle trips during its first year of operation. The Hornby Street cycle track was strongly opposed by merchants along the route that were fearful about the loss of on-street parking, this is despite the fact that there are more than 10,000 parking spaces in parking garages within one block of the street. The City committed to ensuring there would be on-street parking on at least one side of the street for the length of the cycle track. The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses predicted that half of the businesses on Hornby would fail but this prediction has proved baseless. Here are the first round of ridership statistics for the Hornby Street cycle track alongside those for the Dunsmuir Street cycle track. http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/transpor...olumes_001.jpg Link | Raw data |
[Vancouver] Cycling route photos | May 12th 2011
Here is a photo of part of the Mosaic bicycle route that connects up with the Adanac bike route pictured next. Speed bumps and a lower speed limit of 30kph due to a nearby school help to make this a safe and pleasant cycling route despite crossing through light industrial areas and being plagued by hills.
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/5...11p1240901.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 13th 2011. The popular Adanac bike route as it winds through a more industrial part of the city. http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/2619/...te1may1220.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011. Even here there are still bicycle and pedestrian controlled traffic lights at busy intersections. http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/2...2may122011.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011. The City has supported several bicycle themed murals along the route which are genuinely quite nice. http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/9...3may122011.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011. At Main Street the Adanac bike route ends leaving cyclists with two options for continuing on into downtown Vancouver. The first option is to continue straight on Adanac for another block to where the street merges with Expo Boulevard and there is a painted bicycle lane. Expo Boulevard crosses the Carral Street Greenway cycle track, which connects historic Gastown with the off-street Seawall pedestrian and bicycle route that rings much of the city's waterfront. Ultimately Expo Boulevard turns into Pacific Boulevard that meets up with the Hornby Street cycle track and the Burrard Bridge. The second option is to veer left onto the Dunsmuir Viaduct cycle track that takes one into the downtown core. There is a 50+ foot escarpment that separates the False Creek Flats from the downtown core and the Dunsmuir Viaduct helps vehicles, and now cyclists, make the transition. A lane of road deck space was reallocated to cyclists in the form of a cycle track. The lane had been previously closed off to vehicles as a traffic management experiment so in this instance there was not an actual reduction in road space through the construction of the cycle track. Also, during the 2010 Winter Olympics the entire viaduct and its twin the Georgia viaduct were closed for two months for security reasons and life went on just fine without it prompting a study by City Hall to see whether the viaducts are worth retaining when the time comes for significant mid-life refurbishment some time in the next twenty years. http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/7...pmay132011.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 13th 2011. Having crossed the Dunsmuir viaduct, here are a few photos of the new Dunsmuir street cycle track. Up ahead in the next block there is a bus stop with a shelter on one side of the cycle track and a pedestrian median for boarding on the other. http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/2...22011p1240.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011. http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9...22011p1240.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011. http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8...22011p1240.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011. Here is a photo of the permanent in-street bicycle counters that are used throughout the cycle track network to monitor use. They appear to be the same type of induction loops that are used at intersections to gauge how long the line is for a left turn. http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5...011p124089.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011. An after work recreational group of cyclists turning onto the Hornby cycle track. http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/1...011p124089.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011. Traffic lights for the Hornby cycle track include bicycle symbol lights. Technically these are not allowed under our Province's transportation laws but the City's lawyers essentially said 'just go for it' to the Engineering Department since there is ample precedent for the lights in cities around the world and in several jurisdictions in Canada and the United States. http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/385...nmay122011.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011. Here I'm approaching the apogee of the Burrard Street bridge and one can clearly see the reallocation of a road lane for the cycle track. The concrete barriers are temporary and the City has committed to improving the aesthetics as part of its decision to make this cycle track and bridge deck space allocation permanent. http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/318...cycletrack.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 13th 2011. The south end of the Burrard Bridge. On this side of the bridge a vehicle lane was reallocated to cyclists for southbound travel while on the opposite side the sidewalk has been converted into a bicycle-only lane for northbound travel. The sidewalk on the near side of the bridge is now for pedestrians only. Previously cyclists and pedestrians shared the narrow sidewalks of the 1930s art deco era bridge. During the first year of the reallocation trial just over a million bicycles were counted and pedestrian use reached an all time high. North bound vehicles in the same three lanes as before had less than a minute's average delay because of the changes while no delays southbound for the two lanes (one changed to a cycle track) of traffic were recorded, plus transit vehicles have not been affected enough to register in on-time scheduling monitoring. http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3...thendmafje.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 12th 2011. If the left turn bay pictured above seems a little excessive, believe me when I say that it's often too small. http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/9...leftturnba.jpg http://creativecommons.org/images/pu...merights20.png Taken by SFUVancouver, May 13th 2011. |
Ah, I wish we had infrastructure like that!
|
Caltrain adding more bicycle rack space
By Bay City News Service 5/10/11 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/...entry_id=88673 On Friday, Caltrain's board of directors approved a resolution that will increase space for bicycles on its weekday train service, a transit spokeswoman said. The Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board of Directors adopted a resolution that will expand this year's budget by $300,000 to pay for the Gallery Car Bike Rack Installation Project, Caltrain spokeswoman Tasha Bartholomew said. The project will convert 10 standard gallery cars into bike cars, allowing each weekday train set to increase its capacity to 80 spaces in two bike cars, Bartholomew said. Current service has some train-sets with one bike car, and some with two. "We are very pleased to hear the news," San Francisco Bicycle Coalition policy director Andy Thornley said. "We've definitely been working with a lot of energy with the notion of getting the service consistent," Thornley said. .... http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/s...0499212340.jpg Scott Sugiura looking for a spot to park his bike on a southbound train at the Caltrain station at 4th and King in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, September 26, 2008. Photo by Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/...#ixzz1MTrCaDLZ |
the thought of guarded bikeways down the length of wilshire and santa monica makes me salivate. for the a city that hosts a bicycling event as prominent as ciclavia los angeles sure lacks some basic bike infrastructure. i guess we're overcompensating for what's taken for granted in more progressive cities like vancouver and amsterdam where bicycling is treated as a viable lifestyle
|
All times are GMT. The time now is 10:54 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.