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Old 01-26-22, 03:13 PM
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UniChris
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Originally Posted by flangehead
I've sought input on the infrastructure side of this in the past. https://www.bikeforums.net/21563574-post14.html Since I closed my comments on that thread, sharrows have been painted on full length, though the distance between them is substandard.

As I mentioned, I'm much more interested in actual safety than the legalities...


Google maps is now relatively current; from https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7705...!3m1!1e3?hl=en to https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7743...!3m1!1e3?hl=en


The 15' was with a Craftsman 25' tape measure in several places along the route. Measured from curb face to curb face. No on-street parking allowed or customary.
Thanks for sharing the details! It really helps that we have the same facts in mind when discussing the situation.

Taking your 15' number, the way I see it is this:

If I look in the PDF I linked earlier, they show an example of a 4' bike lane squeezed adjacent to a pair of 10' travel lanes, and basically conclude it's an example of an old and bad idea:

Existing 4’ Bike Lane / 10’ Travel Lanes Narrow distances between people biking and vehicles lead to conflicts and an uncomfortable and uninviting biking experience, particularly if there is a gutter or other debris that collects in the bike lane.
They then go on to look at a still squeezed configuration of a 6' bike lane and an 11' traffic lane - but note that's already exceeding the 15' you found.

And then they settle on the idea that what you really need, is a 6' bike lane, a 3' buffer, and a 12' travel lane... which in the case of Memorial drive isn't going to fit.

So then they fall back to the idea that if you have at least 14' for a lane, you can make it a shared one.

That's the logical path of reasoning that gets you from a dubious 4' bike lane besides 10' travel lane, to a 14 (or 15) foot shared lane.

It might or might not be the correct decision. Looking on streetview I relish neither riding in the gutter with cars whizzing by right next to me, nor having to go and boldly claim a lane on a busy road for an extended stretch. But I do think claiming it and making people use the left lane to pass is probably the smarter choice, and the city engineers seem to agree.

So I would have to plead guilty if charged with a position not FRAP in those sections, under that standard.
No, you'd point to the fact that the city engineers have applied a marking that's used specifically where there is insufficient space for side by side travel in the same lane.

The city's already declared that in their view, as "far right as practicable" is the middle of the lane.

Another example is riding on a sidewalk, which by City of Houston code is effectively illegal with 300 feet of a business or industrial property. But a recently built bike route puts users on a sidewalk right in front of a business.
A sign directing bicyclists onto a "sidewalk" that doesn't instruct them to dismount and walk may very well mean that bit of "sidewalk" is actually an under-spec MUP.

But yes, those situations can cause problems out in the real world: https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2013/11/...dge-bike-path/ (the tickets were later voided)

Last edited by UniChris; 01-26-22 at 04:55 PM.
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