Joe, I'm glad you tucked and rolled properly and survived the
crash. But, if it has such hazards built into it, I'd bet that others
haven't been so lucky when they had mishaps there.
I see numerous dangerous configurations in bikeways and I assume
that many of the designing engineers don't ride bikes themselves.
Recently, our city installed a much-needed, super bike path alongside a
busy connector road. Everything about the path is top-grade, except at
the ends. At one of these, the path abruptly splits in two, to feed
left/right entries into the roadway. The curves on these are very sharp
and for some reason, just 8 ft. from the ends, they narrow from 10 ft.
wide, to just 6 ft. This makes them very difficult to negotiate, even
at a slow speed and if two riders meet there, it's impossible for them
to pass safely.
At the other end, there's two driveways carrying trucks night and
day from a factory just beyond. The sidewalk there is narrow and rutted
and a rail crossing between the driveways has big gaps next to the
tracks. To avoid this and continue on your way, you have to cross the
busy street, without any safety provisions made for bikes. They spent
millions on this bikeway and couldn't find a way to keep the
entries/exits from being deathtraps.
No one in the city agencies seems responsive to complaints about
these issues. I wonder if this path was built just to qualify the city
for federal funds for their regular roadways. They have a very narrow,
but busy street, that has signs designating it as a "Bike Route", even
though it isn't wide enough for bike lanes. It has a continuous
sidewalk on only one side and it is also narrow and filled with power
and sign poles. I assume there's no federal inspectors who check for
compliance to minimum standards, for receiving funds.
Steve McDonald