daoswald

Does anyone know of an effective approach toward being heard on a road safety concern?

Near where I live there are only a few obvious north-south choices, and they're spaced several miles apart. The most convenient passage between Sandy, UT and Draper, UT is 1300 east. But this road -- two lanes in either direction, posted 45mph, but typically traffic flows 50mph or more -- has a discontiguous bike lane. And when the bike lane ends, the road narrows to the point that cyclists are thrust into the lane with cars bearing down on them at 50mph.

The scenario I fear most is being thrust into the lane, the car behind me dodges into a left lane to get around me without braking, but the car behind him wouldn't have seen me until too late, plowing into me. On this road taking the lane is ill-advised; traffic just moves too fast, and often with a bare minimum spacing from one bumper to the next. A slow moving bike could cause a pileup in an instant.

One might think, well... in this case make an exception and use the sidewalk. And as unsatisfactory as that may sound, it's even worse than it sounds. The sidewalk has trees and light posts encroaching into its width, so that in many places there's barely a handlebar width between a light post on the left, and a noise-reduction wall on the right. And the trees are too low cut to pass under them without getting whacked.

So the road goes from nice and safe, with bike lanes, to no bike lane, no shoulder, and narrowed lanes, with no usable sidewalk with no notice.

Surely there must be some way of getting attention drawn to this problem. Does this sort of thing ever get fixed?

CliffordK

Hmmmpf
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Sand...6!2d40.5246711

Much of that route looks dreamy nice. But, I did notice an area near the southern end where the road did narrow somewhat. Can you post a couple of Google Streetview links to the places you consider the worse.

I see you have some of the issues that are common in many urban/suburban areas with residential streets that don't quite connect, and main arterials. Also varying elevations so a jog to the side may not always be practical.

Nonetheless, for your own sanity, I'd encourage you to consider some of the routes 5 blocks to the East, or 5 blocks to the West.

Also consider some of the side streets that are 1 block off the main street, but perhaps only take you a half dozen blocks. Consider whether there are practical ways to connect some of those side streets, cutting through parks or schools or similar.

As far as what to do, I haven't been particularly successful with getting responses. But a few things to consider.Good Luck and ride safe!!!

bpcyclist

I am sure you have already done this, but what happens if you take 1700 to Hidden Valley and go that way instead? Is it that much slower? 1700 looks maybe a bit more bettah than 1300, just glancing quickly at the sat pics. Possibly more room? Always a bit tough to tell from so far above.

Other than that, to start getting something to happen on 1300, you need to identify who the responsible party(ies) is/are along that entire route. County, cities, whatever. I don;t know the first thing about municipal Utah politics, pro-bike/anti-bike, whatever. It is going to take some major work, I'd imagine, to get serious change. Have there been cyclists injured on that stretch of road, by chance? That looks like a pretty busy stretch or roadway and, take it from someone who lives in one of these so-called bike meccas, creating safer, better bike lanes is a massive uphill battle--even here. Especially, here. There are so many passionate drivers who despise cyclists here--it's just ridiculous. They oppose everything we want to do. Anyhow, not sure what the climate is there--is the point I am making. And that climate is going to have some influence on what you can get done.

Good luck. Be careful.

daoswald

Street View

Notice the abrupt end of the lane, the light posts encroaching into the sidewalk. The traffic lanes are not wide enough for vehicles to pass in-lane while still offering 3 feet clearance. This picture doesn't show much traffic. Must have been during the zombie apocalypse or something. Normally it's hectic and fast moving.

Yes, I can dodge up to 1700 without much elevation gain. It's what I normally do. But this is a major artery with miles of bike lane on either side of this narrowing. The narrow area goes on for a mile or two before opening out again in Draper.

berner

A few years ago, the state highway department deceided to cut in rumble strips on a state road that had no shoulder but saw only moderate traffic. No one in the bike club had real concerns about this road until the the rumble strips were put in. They force the cyclist away from the edge of the road and much closer to motor traffic. The bike club is old and over the years has developed a good relationship with state entities such as highway and police. The club alerted the highway department to the issue and the very next time I road that section, the rumble strips had been filled in.

It takes time to develop relationships and still poor situations have to be approached with a positive attitude, rather the the contentious attitudes that have become all to common. I would suggest a meeting with appropriate highway athourities and a well reasoned and helpful presentation. Shaking a fist in someones face would have the opposite effect to the one desired. If you could get a local bike club involved, it could only he.lp

CliffordK

There are many demands on streets from property boundaries, existing homes, and changes in elevation that affect street designs.

That section of road appears to be on a moderate hill which impacted the road narrowing.

It is sad that it appears as if it has been completely rebuilt sometime in the last 10 years, but doesn't appear to comply with modern standards. I'm not sure that it even complies with automobile standards, and perhaps would warrant a complaint to the State level.

That said, the sidewalk appears to be 100% ridable in that snippet, and I can't imagine gets that heavy of foot traffic. Just use prudence, caution, and be polite around pedestrians. It does appear to be narrower on the other side of the street. The lamp poles don't appear to be a problem except with oversized trailers.

That said, I do think there are several things the city could do to improve that for bike access, without costing too much.