A Solution for the Commercial-Liberty Dysfunction Junction?

What to do about the split at Alice and Fairview where Commercial divides and dual turn lanes morph into southbound Liberty Road?

The Commercial Vista Corridor study might have an answer.

The two lanes of Liberty are treacherous to cross

The bike lane is striped here, and it looks like you should attempt a crossing of the two new lanes that turn across your path and become Liberty.

This is intuitive, and many people on bike attempt it. They hide in the bike lane, wait for a break in the traffic, and scamper. We'll call this the "hide and scamper" move.

Scary, but intuitive and direct: Hide, then scamper
City Traffic Camera, Commercial at Fairview

The preferred alternative has been a very lightly signed - probably invisibly signed! - and greatly enlarged jug-handle turn.

Education or Engineering: Signs for Debate

The other day I saw an ad and a blurb for a book that might be interesting, Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American Environmental Images.

From the University of Chicago Press:

Considering a wide array of images—including pictures in popular magazines, television news, advertisements, cartoons, films, and political posters—[Finis Dunaway] shows how popular environmentalism has been entwined with mass media spectacles of crisis....he focuses on key moments in which media images provoked environmental anxiety but also prescribed limited forms of action. Moreover, he shows how the media have blamed individual consumers for environmental degradation and thus deflected attention from corporate and government responsibility. Ultimately, Dunaway argues, iconic images have impeded efforts to realize—or even imagine—sustainable visions of the future. [italics added]

It seems to me that the imagery on the front page about David Fox's signs and the way the story is framed up participates at least a little in this deflection.

I wonder if the front-page placement and hints of heroic imagery might actually diminish the topic - and introduce an element of irony and sensationalism. (Certainly the TV coverage seems to go in this direction.)

Now the story is about a plucky individual and his quixotic quest instead of about a structural and systemic problem with a regulatory environment and the way we think about, fund, and construct transportation facilities. (We're not talking about the Engineering Guild and the MUTCD's prohibition on an otherwise reasonable sign, for example.)

You might say this personalizes the problem and makes it real. It tells a story. Some of the online comments to the story are appreciative along these lines.

But maybe this treatment tames the problem, too.

Even the Road Builders say: Fix the Bridge First!

The big road lobby, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, even says we should fix the bridge!

Earlier this week a reader sent in news about their latest report on "deficient" bridges in the US by the biggest road builder trade and lobbying organization.

You'll never guess what it says...

ARTBA Oregon Bridge Profile

Yup, the Marion Street Bridge should be fixed first!

We need to fix our bridges before we build new ones!

You'll never Guess Which of these Signs isn't Legal!

Which sign looks more legal?

State Street - via Ashley Smith / Statesman Journal

Chemeketa Street

The one that cites ORS? or the one that doesn't?

The best part?

The idea that confusion over a sign's authenticity would be more dangerous than the routine ignorance and disregard for the sign's message itself!

But according to officials with the city of Salem, the signs will have to be taken down for public safety reasons.

“We follow what is called a manual of uniform traffic control devices,” said Robert Chandler, assistant public works director with the city. “The intention of the manual and the reason we follow it is so there’s standardized signage across the country. So whatever he has put up ... it really cannot resemble a regular traffic control sign because that would confuse drivers. We would either remove it or ask him to remove it...."

Chandler said city crews were planning to take a look at the signs in the coming days.

“Our big picture is safety,” he said. “For the gentleman who had the problem, drivers should understand the rules and should follow them and be respectful for other users of the roadway. But we discourage people putting up their own traffic signs.” [italics added]

Hydraulic Autoism and the MUTCD for the win!

Next time - copy one of the existing signs?

Frustrated by ignorance, Salem cyclist posts bike safety signs http://t.co/XPbuSN87fT
— Statesman Journal (@Salem_Statesman) April 7, 2015

(If you haven't been on Chemeketa, the "illegal" sign is the one on State Street with the ORS. Maybe there will be more to say in the morning after the piece hits print and there is more reaction. I have some fear it will be used as clickbait to stoke the "war on cars" narrative.)

Update, Midday Tuesday

Front page news!

Lord and Schryver Museum also Shows Mission St in Transition

Mission Street near downtown is in transition.

While the Hospital's actions at the Blind School and then across the street on the corner house have been in the news, more quietly the work on the museum proposed for Gaiety Hollow, the home and garden of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, is also evidence for the change.

Garden Conservancy News, summer 2014 clip

Later this month on the 22nd there will be a hearing on some of the zoning and parking matters for the museum.

Hearing on April 22nd

By formulas in code, this small museum requires five off-street parking stalls for cars. While two of them can be supplied by the driveway, the other three will be supplied by the Derby/Bush House parking lot across the street. The museum will have to execute a formal lease with the City for these three stalls, it looks like.

Legislative Update, Week 9 - The Safety Vests

The Legislature is chugging along, and for bikes so far it's mostly been small details and theater.

Hearing on mandatory reflective clothing bill is underway.. Looks like @JohnDavisforOR is wearing a vest! pic.twitter.com/4sRnqBe4WG

— Jonathan Maus (@BikePortland) March 30, 2015

You may recall that our MPO has limited appetite to support Amtrak, and sure enough funding is at risk. The service doesn't move that many people by raw count, but it looms large as a symbol of alternatives to autoism in the I-5 corridor. Here's the Oregon Environmental Council on the prospect.

There doesn't seem to be any big headline transport news yet, so fair warning mostly blather here...

Milestones and movements are highlighted in green. (As usual, see more relevant bills or movement? Drop a note in the comments.)

Here's an interesting bill that got neutered with study churn, it looks like:

• SB 120 as introduced expanded the definition of ways to meet "mobility standards" and included "reducing congestion in other modes of travel" - which seems ambiguous, but could as the language was adjusted have meant something like "reduce auto congestion by means of improvements in bike lanes and transit (etc)." The relevant language has been deleted in the first round of amendments, and now it looks like it maintains the usual "highway mobility targets established for a highway corridor by the Department of Transportation’s Oregon Highway Plan" and calls for a new study on the possibility of change. As amended the bill is heading to the Senate floor with a "do pass" recommendation.

Buffered Bike Lanes and Flashing Beacons Lead Commercial Vista Corridor Recommendations

The initial set of recommendations are out on the Commercial Vista Corridor Study, and my first impression is that they do significantly more for travel on foot than on bike. (summary pamphlet also)

Existing above, proposed below: Note buffer,
wider sidewalk, narrower auto travel lanes

Some quick hits:

Commercial Street and Buffered Bike Lanes - Alternative 1

Commercial Street by Fred Meyer

• Reduces most auto travel lanes from 14 feet to 11 feet. Thumbs up!
• Expands sidewalk width and adds room for street trees. Thumbs up!
• Add buffer to bike lane, total width from 7 to 9 feet. A little meh, actually.

The buffer isn't continued the length of Commercial in all the views, so a non-continuous buffer seems like it's of limited utility. Additionally, the travel lane width isn't consistently reduced to 11 feet - but there's no need for 12 foot travel lanes! (Why not make them all 10 feet, anyway?)

More than this, though, because of the vastness of Commercial here, I'm not sure that buffers without barriers will help infrequent, young, or inexperienced people on bike. The buffers will help those of us who already bike on Commercial, but I don't think the treatment will be strong enough to attract "interested and concerned" people on bike. This would be a marginal, incremental improvement, not a game-changer.