Advocacy Advice Needed - Bad Road Design Coming

[Blueberry]

Dear TE Friends:

I could use some advice on something. Our town started a plan for traffic calming on a street I ride every day in 2001. The plan (from 2001) involved neck downs. They put one of these in, and it's a disaster for cyclists. DH and I have both had really close calls in it. In 2006, our town adopted a Bike Plan calling for bike lanes on that road, and our state has adopted a Complete Streets plan (which, as I understand it, doesn't apply to this street because it's a town maintained street). The original 2001 plan was just resurrected, and the city is planning to put 5 more neck downs in next year. Every cyclist I know agrees it will be dangerous (including our bike ped commission, which has spoken out against it), and they city has publicly stated they are prioritizing pedestrian safety over cyclists. They have also said that since no one has presented better plans (whose job is it?), they are moving ahead with this.

The really sketchy part is that the DOT director has given the neighborhood association (a voluntary group limited by residence and requiring payment of dues) veto power over the plans - they won't change it unless this group says so. In a closed, unannounced meeting, they decided they want to keep the current plan. I'm sending a letter expressing my issues with all of this to our council, DOT, etc. I am also sending a records request to see if I can figure out what they are thinking. But I wondered if anyone else had been in a similar situation and if I had missed anything? Any thoughts? Thanks!!

(I'm happy to share specific links to the mess that is going on via private message. I prefer to keep my location a little more private on the public boards).

[smilingcat]

[quote} In a closed, unannounced meeting, they decided they want to keep the current plan.[/quote]

Are they even allowed to have a closed unannounced meeting over planning? And I think you should make a stink over the veto power of the association only at the council meeting. The street belongs to the community and not just the association. The street obviously impacts those who do not live within the association.

Neck down of the street is a common method being adopted often. My old town adopted it but the street is more than wide enough to accomodate it. The street was almost wide enough for two lanes in each direction.

Also contact some well known bike advocacy group like the ones in NY or one here in Portland, they may be able to give you some idea on dealing with this.

Problem with the planners is that they are still very much car-centric and pedestrian/cyclist is only an afterthought. Stay calm and logically work out an argument as to why they need to change their decision. It's hard, but it can be done. You may have to use their bylaws against them things like when are they allowed to have a closed and or unannounced meeting, why is that the association is the only group with the veto power when others in the area use the road, why isn't there a comment period for the change etc.

Take a deep breath think of an argument where you can corner them, or where their action of installing a neck down might lead to increased liability for the city. Other calming techniques are using a small islands in the middle of the intersection, a mini, turn-abouts is the way to think of these. Check this idea with BikePortland group.

wish you luck!!

[shootingstar]

What is a neck down?...I'm on lunch at work.

Whatever stuff is being devised, at some point to also have several supportive media/writers involved. Do you belong to a cycling advocacy group as part of this effort to work out a better plan?

The tough part is working out a design /plan that doesn't sideline pedestrian needs.

[Blueberry]

There is a City/County advocacy group, but they are having no luck getting traction at all. The media has been brutal to the City, but they don't seem to care.

Neck downs narrow the street at pre-defined points. Theory is that pedestrians have less distance to cross and cars will 1) slow and 2) actually stop for people. Hasn't happened. Problem for cyclists is it forces them to take the lane - which pretty much causes road rage in every driver here. DH and I have had some close calls in the existing one (people trying to pass even when you are taking the lane and swerving into you or acting very aggressively). The cyclists don't want the pedestrian needs to be completely ignored - just that their own needs not be completely ignored.

Smilingcat - the road is very wide - but they aren't willing to give up parking on one side (currently parking on both sides). If they would, we could have neck downs and bike lanes. Ugh. Sometimes I am so ready to not live in the south.

Thanks for the thoughts - please keep them coming

[Crankin]

We have one of these just outside our "downtown," in a very busy area in front of a private school. There are cars parked along the curb, people pulling in and out of the school driveway, and a crosswalk. When I ride through here on my commute, there is still residual traffic from rush hour in my direction, and the other direction is full of cars.
When they put this in, a well known elderly man in town drove his car right into the thing and was injured, because he "didn't see" it. It caused concern, but nothing was done. I get in the lane just about every time I ride here. Of course, people here are used to cyclists doing this, and there's a huge amount of cyclists. But, once in awhile, you get someone who is aggressive like you describe.
I just make sure I stop for the peds in the crosswalk there, so I am not seen as part of the problem.

[ny biker]

We have lots of these things in Arlington, but they call them something different -- bump-outs, I think. But they also keep adding bike lanes and sharrows, too.

There are a couple of intersections where I often nearly drive into the bump-outs because I don't see them until I'm nearly on top of them -- the roads are not actually very wide, and you try to drive on the right side (there are no yellow lines), and suddenly there's a curb in front of you.