ceo: (Default)
ceo ([personal profile] ceo) wrote in [community profile] davis_square2011-08-11 10:10 pm
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Bike path reroute

I'm glad that they're rerouting the bike path around the Rite Aid parking lot. But the way they're doing it is kind of surprising:

Bike path reroute
This is a whole bunch of accidents waiting, not for very long, to happen. It's really tricky to navigate on a bike even at low speed with no other traffic.

And it doesn't need to be that way; they could have taken down those bollards and curved it through where the wood chips are. Possibly smoothing out the other transition would require sacrificing the nearmost parking space.

[personal profile] ron_newman 2011-08-12 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
I think that's intended to be a sidewalk, with bikes continuing to use the Rite Aid parking lot once construction is finished. But I'm not sure now.

[identity profile] lifecollage.livejournal.com 2011-08-12 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
I've always suspected that the bollards were there to keep less-than-clueful drivers from trying to navigate down the bike path. Maybe if they put the bollards on the outside of the sidewalk, and then do what you suggest?

Oy......
ext_174465: (Default)

[identity profile] perspicuity.livejournal.com 2011-08-12 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
wait til they put a fence at the end, forcing traffic to not just jump the curb. oh yeah.

or this is their subtle way to say "okay, slow down zone" until the path picks up across the square?

certainly that path doesn't look like it can support normal speed traffic for the path, esp given the width. crush point.

#

[identity profile] koshmom.livejournal.com 2011-08-12 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
have there been complaints about bicyclists riding too fast? This is one way to slow them down. Altho if I was a cyclist, I'd find it a challenge to ride my bike over the wood chips and between those bollards. You gotta know that pedestrians are going to do that. If I was a bike I'd fling the bike off the curb, and then sue the town when my back tire blew. What's the bet that a handmade "handicapped" style ramp is built within a week of finishing this? :)
smammy: (Default)

[personal profile] smammy 2011-08-12 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm pretty sure that once they finish paving, it'll be a smooth shot from the main bike path to the Rite Aid parking lot. Also, the blacktop that routes around the parking lot is not the final surface. See how the manholes and communication boxes are raised?

[identity profile] derekp.livejournal.com 2011-08-12 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Forget bikes, I walked through there with a stroller the other night and it was dicey. Beyond bicycle speed and handling being an issue there's also the simple fact that its a transition from a wide, popular mixed-use path to a narrow sidewalk with two right angle turns.

I assume it's temporary. The sidewalks in the bus access road just a bit further towards the square are all nice and wide. The pavement used looks entirely temporary.

That said, you know what they say about assuming... especially when it comes to government projects.

[personal profile] ron_newman 2011-08-14 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
Yesterday evening (Saturday) they finished repaving the busway and parking lot, and reopened all of it to traffic. The bike path leads directly into the parking lot again, as it did before the construction.
Edited 2011-08-14 07:02 (UTC)

[personal profile] ron_newman 2011-08-17 01:48 am (UTC)(link)
I rode by there again today and saw a good reason for the sharp turns -- they wanted to avoid lopping off a corner of the Bikeway Community Garden.