Texas Street Southbound Bike Lane Project Complete; Northbound Section Needs Some TLC
Savannah Russell wrote in to state,
I have been thrilled to see the improvements on the Texas Street hill, so I thought I would share them! I finally remembered to stop and take some pictures. I kept getting so excited to ride it that I would forget the pictures! Ha.The retaining wall, drainage ditch, sidewalk, lamps and bike lane are all in place. The bike lane was repaved and is fantastic. The bike lane is a great width, feels very safe while riding up it and the new road paving is level with the gutter paving. It is great! The 15 lamps that have been installed have not yet been hooked up to the grid though so it is still dark at night. I emailed Bob Lathrop, the project manager for this project, several times throughout the process and he was very friendly and always got back to me quickly. My most recent email to him was in regards to the lights and he said they should be on within the next 2-3 weeks. It all depends on when SDG&E gets around to it.Lights or no lights, it is currently a MUCH nicer ride than it was previously. The lights will definitely be a great addition though!
Savannah sent in the following two images of the new southbound (and uphill) bike lane that was recently completed on Texas Street that has a 10% grade.
Earlier last month I contacted Penny Gray, the Bicycle Program Manager at Caltrans HQ in Sacramento to ask about what the existing standards were on bike lanes, or what is called "Class II" bikeways. She responded stating (in part),
The Highway Design Manual Section 300 discusses the requirements for Class II Bikeway Lane Widths.
The Highway Design Manual Section 300 (see link below) discusses the requirements for Class II Bikeway Lane Widths.
"(1) General. Class II bikeways (bike lanes), for the preferential use of bicycles, may be established within the roadbed nd shall be located immediately adjacent to a traffic lane as allowed in this manual. Typical Class II bikeway configurations are illustrated in Figure 301.2A. A bikeway located behind on-street parking, physical separation, or barrier within the roadway is not a Class II bikeway (bike lane); see Index 1003.1 Class I Bikeway (Bike Path) for standards and design guidance. The minimum Class II bike lane width shall be 4 feet, except where:
Adjacent to on-street parking, the minimum bike lane should be 5 feet.
Posted speeds are greater than 40 miles per hour, the minimum bike lane
should be 6 feet, or
On highways with concrete curb and gutter, a minimum width of 3 feet
measured from the bike lane stripe to the joint between the shoulder
pavement and the gutter shall be provided.Class II bikeways may be included as part of the shoulder width See Topic
302."While the Streets and Highways Code Section 891 states "All city, county, regional, and other local agencies responsible for the development or operation of bikeways or roadways where bicycle travel is permitted shall utilize all minimum safety design criteria and uniform specifications and symbols for signs, markers, and traffic control devices established pursuant to Section 890.6 and 890.8", many cities and counties use their own standards and designs based on engineering standards, etc. As a result, you may find many bike lanes that do not conform to the state standard.
Since Caltrans is intent on turning all bike riders and advocates into amateur civil engineers, I took a tape measure with me when I rode over to Texas Street to check out the new improvements. The new southbound section of Texas Street measured exactly 4 feet per the existing standards listed in the highway manual and not an inch more. Thankfully, the gutter provides a bit of a buffer from pedestrians who want to walk down into Mission Valley.
While the progress on Texas Street was ongoing, I had contacted Jake Aquino who works for the Bicycle Program at the City of San Diego to ask about adding a painted buffer to protect bicycle riders from fast moving motor vehicles. Aquino responded stating (in part),
Buffered bike lanes would reduce the effective bike lane from fix feet to four feet with a two feet buffered lane. Also, the proposed two feet gutter would further reduce the effective bike lane from four feet to two feet. Two feet of effective bike lane is undesirable so we cannot recommend the installation of buffered bike lanes at this time
While Aquino only focused on the bike lane width, he should have considered restriping the vehicle lanes in order to transform Texas Street from a speedy thoroughfare to a traffic calmed street. In a 2005 Caltrans publication titled Main Streets: Flexibility in Design and Operations(pdf), I quote an excerpt on reducing lane widths:
Reduced lane widths in combination with other traffic calming measures may encourage slower speeds, which is desirable for a main street. Where existing right of way is limited, reducing lane widths can provide adequate shoulder width for bike lanes and sidewalks.
As San Diegans are more than aware, we have three north/south freeways that connect the mid-city community to the rest of the city: the SR-163, the I-15 and the 805. A speedy thoroughfare (such as freeways) that is designed to reduce conflict with other road users should be promoted to our driving public and surface streets that are known to have other road users should be redesigned to discourage speeding vehicular traffic by implementing traffic calming designs that will be inviting to the the non-driving public and a pleasant (and less noisy) street for the residents.
While the southbound section of Texas Street has been made a little nicer for the bike riding population, the northbound section needs a little bit of maintenance work:
The northbound (downhill) section of Texas Street has a bike lane does a very effective job of collecting road debris and the the bike lane width (including gutter) is less than four feet wide. The city should consider restriping this section of the bike lane on Texas Street and making it a bit more beautiful and inviting than it currently is.
For more photos of Texas Street's bike lanes, see this photo set on flickr.
What are your thoughts about the new southbound bike lane on Texas Street? Would a buffer help?
San Diego's Third Bike Corral - at The Linkery
San Diego's third bike corral is currently in the process of being installed in front of The Linkery. I love the design of the corral and the placement of the corral. What are your thoughts?
For more about The Linkery and its proprietor, Jay Porter, read this interview conducted back in 2009.
To send your notes of gratitude to Councilmember Gloria who is certainly turning out to be one of the most bike friendly Councilmembers in the City, you may reach him at all your social media outlets or via email. I'm happy to spread the love to rest of the Councilmembers, but Councilmember Gloria is being the trailblazer so everyone else has a bit of a climb to catch up.
Update: Tiffany Broomfield, CEO of the San Diego Business Improvement District Council, wrote in to state
County Supervisor Ron Roberts was also a big part of this installation. The North Park Main Street received a grant from his office to purchase the racks that look like bikes, it was a significant investment and should be recognized.
The three installations have been a shared project with the Business Improvement Districts/Community Parking Districts and the City and now, in North Park the County.
I've sent in my note of thanks to Supervisor Roberts and I hope you consider doing the same.
Update:
Here is a photo taken a few days after the ribbon cutting ceremony.
New Bike Repair Station at Hillcrest Whole Foods
If you've stopped by Whole Foods in Hillcrest at any point during the last month, you may have noticed a newly installed perk: A bike repair station.
I stopped by Whole Foods last week and took a few photos of the new bike stand located conveniently by the walkway and the bike parking racks.
The station has a sticker with a QR code that you can scan with your phone:
Scanning the QR code takes you to BicycleTutor.com's repair guide where you can look up instructions to do most basic maintenance tasks on your bike:
The stand comes equipped with a variety of tools that work well on basic maintenance issues:
I called Hillcrest's Whole Foods' manager to ask more details about the bike repair station. The manager stated that she heard about the bike repair station from another manager of a Whole Foods location in Northern California and thought it was a great idea. Because so many of Whole Foods' customers and employees ride in, the branch manager thought it would be a great perk for them. So far the response has been very positive.
This was, indeed, an excellent perk. What are your thoughts on this repair stand? Have you used it?
San Diego's Second Bike Corral
San Diego now has a second bike corral - a dedicated spot to park bicycles, this time in North Park by the Lafayette Hotel.
The good news is that San Diego has another bike corral so people now can look forward to parking their bikes to a bike rack instead of locking them to poles or trees. The bad news is that this new corral is located almost mid-block on Louisiana Street between El Cajon Boulevard and Howard Avenue. I had a hard time finding it since the angled parking blocks the view until one is right in front of the bike corral. It seems that the placement of the corral revealed a sort of embarrassment from City officials who want to hide bicycles rather than revel in the fact that the city is quietly plodding its way to becoming more bike friendly.
The placement of the corral is also worrisome to me because because it is not visible from the Lafayette Hotel that is located on El Cajon Boulevard and I fear that it won't get any use and thus will wind up being a waste of good money.
The nation's most bike friendly city, Portland, lists the locations of all their bike corrals on their transportation page including where they prefer bike corrals to be placed,
The City of Portland prefers locating on-street bike parking corrals at street corners in order to add additional benefits, such as creating defacto curb extensions to shorten pedestrian’s crossing of the street and improving visibility for cars turning into traffic from side streets.
Corrals should be located on the main street as close as possible to the main entrances. The City requires that the immediately adjacent business owner and property owner approve of the corral installation and sign an agreement requiring minor, regular sweeping of the corral to discourage the accumulation of debris.
This bike corral located on Louisiana is not located close to the main entrance of the one big business on El Cajon Boulevard: The Lafayette Hotel. It should have been placed on the intersection of Louisiana and El Cajon Boulevard to both increase visibility of drivers turning onto El Cajon Boulevard and for pedestrians crossing Louisiana Street.
What are your thoughts on this new bike corral?
Progress on Texas Street Construction
Below are a few photos of Texas Street going up from Mission Valley as the street gets widened to eventually accommodate a wider bike lane.
I didn't find riding up to be as hairy as before. I suspect the presence of all the construction equipment and workers caused the drivers to slow down. How has your experience been?