Bike Lanes were the first item on the agenda last night at the Regional Transportation Commission meeting, and Engineering firm Manhard Consulting, LTD was there to make their redesign presentation. The room was once again packed last night, but they weren’t familiar faces. Three of us from Muscle Powered attended, eager to hear the verdict.
As the speakers unveiled their redesign plan, it began to be apparent that things were looking good. Here’s a summary of the bike lane plan:
Summary of Changes to Include Bike Lanes
- Four lanes throughout project varying in width from 10′ to 11.25′ (10′ wide only at Long Street intersection)
- 5′ wide bike lane from Washington Street to Adams Street (Lane is measured from the stripe to the face of the curb, so subtract the width of the gutter)
- 4′ shoulder from Adams Street to Beverly Drive (again, subtract the width of the gutter)
- Left turn pockets at Washington, Highway 50/William, Corbett, and Long
The most interesting change to me was the left turn pockets. Last month the proposal was to fully delete the center turn lane. This new plan adds the turn pockets only where really needed, adding additional room for bike lanes, and reducing the amount of right-of-way property acquisition. More of the road can be utilized more of the time, and no space is wasted where you don’t need it.
Like I mentioned last month, the section from Adams Street to Beverly Drive is too narrow to include an official 5′ wide bike lane, so they are calling it a 4′ shoulder. I think this should still be wide enough for most cyclists, and there was talk that share the road signs should be installed along this section to enhance safety.
The commissioners asked a few questions after the presentation, but overall, the mood was great and they once again agreed that the additional costs to the project were minuscule compared to the overall project. The turn pockets are a good compromise between bicycle and auto facilities. The project is really shaping up and looks to be an improvement for all road users.
The next meeting will be in December, and will include a presentation and vote on the amount and usage of the funds available. Keep your fingers crossed! As for the rest of the crowd in the room, nobody got up and commented about bike lanes, so I’m not sure what they were there for. I left after the bike lane discussion, but the Clear Creek closure was going to be talked about near the end of the meeting. I’ll see what I can find out about this topic.
Nevada Appeal article “Toddler, 3, riding in stroller injured after being hit by car” on 2009-10-31. This is a Halloween related crash at the intersection of College Pkwy and Northgate Ln. The reason I have started to post bicycle and pedestrian crashes on the blog is that we really have no good data about how risky or safe Carson City is for these two transportation modes. There is a bit of data on crashes and fatalities on the Office of Traffic Safety website, at http://ots.state.nv.us/OTS_FARS.shtml, but this is very general information without details and without geographic information.
The New York Times Sunday Book Review had a review in May by David Byrne (musician and bicyclist) on Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities by Jeff Mapes, at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/books/review/Byrne-t.html. The Carson City Library has a copy of this book – I know because I’ve checked it out and am reading it. You can get it after me, or buy a copy from Bike Habitat, or order your own.
F-1 Informational update on the design of Phase II of the Roop Street widening project.
Staff Summary: City staff and engineering consultants have evaluated modifications to the design for Phase II of the Roop Street widening project that would allow for bicycle accommodations along the entire length of the project. Staff and consultants will provide information regarding changes to the design, right-of-way acquisition, and overall project costs.
A detailed document is available for download at F-1 Informational update on the design of Phase II of the Roop Street widening project.
The monthly Carson City Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) meeting will be Wednesday, November 4, in the Sierra Room of the Carson City Community Center. This is one week earlier than normal due to the Veteran’s Day holiday on November 11. The CAMPO meeting starts at 5:30 and is followed by the RTC meeting, so it is difficult to determine exactly what time agenda items will come up, but you should be there by 5:45 if you want to make sure you hear agenda item F-1 on the Roop St widening project. Public comment is always welcome on agenda items.
The wonderful turn-out of Muscle Powered members and other community people at the last RTC meeting was a great show of interest that we all feel caused the RTC members to consider changes to the project more than they ever had before. At this meeting staff will present an alternative that provides and maintains bicycle access on Roop St for the length of this project. This is an information item, not a decision. In December the RTC will probably decide whether to proceed with the project in the near future or to defer it due to lower gas tax and sales tax income.
On the Bike Skirt blog, Elisa reviews the book How to Live Well Without Owning a Car by Chris Balish, with some interesting followup comments.
Another book with similar topics but a different approach is Divorce Your Car by Katie Alvord, which is reviewed on the BikeCommuters blog. This review suggests that Alvord’s book tells you why to get rid of your car and Balish’s book tells you how. BikeCommuters has a whole series of book reviews at http://www.bikecommuters.com/category/book-reviews/, where another book Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt is reviewed and recommended.
Unfortunately you won’t find these books in the Carson City Library, but I have copies of the Balish and Alvord books to loan.
If you all have books to suggest on transportation alternatives, please pass them along.
The Surface Transportation Policy Partnership publishes the Mean Streets report every few years, detailing the fate of pedestrians in our car culture. Though pedestrian death rates have declined, the rate of walking has declined even faster, reflecting an increased hazard for those of us who walk – which is all of us. The causes are lack of investment and streets designed for speed and not people. Children and minorities are at higher risk. Solutions include a fare share of funding for pedestrians, complete streets policies, traffic calming, and promoting of the health benefits of walking.
The 2004 report is available at http://www.transact.org/library/reports_html/ms2004/pdf/Final_Mean_Streets_2004_4.pdf. A new edition, retitled Dangerous by Design, will be released in November, and we will of course share that news here.
Nevada’s pedestrian death rate is 2.76 per 100,000 people, ranking only behind New Mexico and Florida, and well above the national rate of 1.68. Though 16.3% of traffic fatalities in Nevada were pedestrians, the state spent only 0.8% of its federal transportation funds on pedestrian improvements. This is unfortunately not far from the national average of 0.9%, but states with low pedestrian deaths all spend a higher percentage of their funds on pedestrians. The federal government and states may give lip service to protecting pedestrians, but when it comes to spending, their priorities are clearly elsewhere, on speeding along motor vehicles. Transportation Enhancement (TE) is the main federal program dedicated to increasing pedestrian and bicycle safety, but Nevada only spends 70% of the available funds, letting the rest return to the federal government. Las Vegas certainly contributes to the problem for Nevada, with its large population and low rate of spending on pedestrians and bicyclists (48 out of 50 of the major metropolitan statistical areas), but the rest of the state is hardly better. Tragically, Reno jumped from 2.80 to 3.27 deaths per 100,000 people from 1995 to 2003, with 27% of traffic fatalities hitting pedestrians in 2003.
New Bikestation in Washington DC
A fifth Bikestation has opened in Washington DC, joining Long Beach, Santa Barbara, Palo Alto, Seattle. There are similar facilities in other cities including San Francisco and Berkeley. A Bikestation offers bike storage, repair, sales and rental, lockers and changing rooms, and are located at transit hubs. They offer 24/7 access for members as well as staffed hours. While something of this scale may be beyond Carson City, it is worth thinking about how support facilities could increase bicycle use here. We have three great bicycle shops in the area, but none yet offer rental, which is a complex and expensive business that needs a significant market to be viable.
The motorist view coming from Market St to College Pkwy; most drivers do not stop at this stop sign.
On October 16, a woman on a bicycle hit a vehicle when it pulled out in front of her. The crash occurred in the eastbound bicycle lane at College Parkway and Market Street. It was covered by News Carson City, but apparently not by the Nevada Appeal. This intersection has already been recognized as dangerous in the Carson Bicycle Routes Wiki, but ironically the greater hazard was thought to be for westbound bicyclists using the combined sidewalk/bicycle path. Though there is a stop sign at this location, I routinely see people just barely slowing down before making the right turn from Market St to College Pkwy. This is a problem all over town, motorists thinking that a few seconds saved by not stopping is more important than the lives of pedestrians and bicyclists. I don’t know whether the driver of the vehicle stopped at the stop sign or not.
On October 14th, Carson City cyclists attended the Carson City Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) meeting to show their support for bike lanes on the future Roop Street widening project. Cyclists were seated in every row, and I hear it’s one of the biggest crowds the RTC has seen for quite some time!
Speakers from the public included myself (Muscle Powered), Dan Allison (Muscle Powered and Safe Routes to School Coordinator), Tim Rowe (Nevada Bicycle Advisory Board and Alta Alpina Cycling Club), and Luke Wold (Wold Fitness).
Roop Street – Looking South from Beverly Drive
Public Works came up with a preliminary redesign of the Roop Street widening plan to present to the commissioners at the meeting. It was suggested that 5′ bike lanes could be included from Washington Street to Adams Street. Due to what I believe are right-of-way issues, the section of Roop Street from Adams Street to Beverly Drive could not accommodate 5′ lanes. It was suggested that this section could be striped with a fog line, but could not be officially called a bike lane due to the narrower width. Public Works said that these revisions would add $50K-60K to the price of the project, but one of the commissioners said this additional cost was minuscule compared to the price of the overall project…especially if it better fit the needs of the public.
With the inclusion of the bike lanes, the center turn lane was removed from the new proposal, but the plan still allowed for 2 lanes of traffic going north and south. It was pointed out that this may back up traffic if people needed to make left turns during peak traffic, but some thought the impact would be minimal. The new Stewart Street extension will allow easy access to the neighborhood to the west of Roop Street, and should alleviate some of the left turn issues on Roop Street.
Roop Street – Looking North from Washington Street
I had a great follow up phone conversation with Patrick Pittenger, Carson City’s Transportation Manager. A revision of the plan discussed above will be presented to the RTC in November, but would not be up for approval until December; however, he cautioned that in these times of diminishing budgets, monies available for projects today may not be available a few months down the road. It could be several months before the actual project started, if at all.
Patrick had good news to report too though. He has secured federal funds for more bicycle projects around the city that include bike lanes on Goni Road north of Arrowhead Drive, bike lanes on 5th Street from the roundabout to Hells Bells Road, and bike lanes on Washington Street from Carson Street to Roop Street.
We also talked about the recent addition of bike lanes on Winnie Lane west of HWY 395 (see Dan Allison’s post on the Muscle Powered Blog for more details), and clarification of the Roop Street plan for bike lanes on Roop Street between East Winnie Lane and Northridge Drive. This section of Roop Street over Lone Mountain will have 8′ bike lanes in both directions, and a pedestrian path on the east side of the road. This is fantastic news for northern Carson City cyclists trying to get to the trails on the west side of town!
I would like to thank everyone who took the time out of their busy lives to come down and show your support for a more bicycle friendly Carson City. The mood of the RTC was visibly brighter than a month ago when we first began our discussions, and this is due to your collective enthusiasm. I’ve found that the city is usually very open to suggestions if you can demonstrate that the people are interested. That’s just what we did Wednesday night.
And finally, when I was out this morning getting pictures for this post, I decided to ride down Roop Street, since the traffic was fairly light. Along the way I imagined that I was riding on a path, and it was great! It was nice to ride a direct route to work instead of my typical labyrinth of side roads. I didn’t have to go through several rain gutters, up curbs, through parking lots, or dart across traffic. This can be fun sometimes, but sometimes you just want to relax.
