Should this be a right-turn-only lane?

I’d say that 9 times out of 10, heck, even 99 times out of 100, people going into that right lane are making right turns. I think it’s almost assumed, as the driver has to cross over the bike lane to get into the lane, a normal procedure for typical right turn lanes (the bike lane lines are dashed to indicate this).

Come to think of it, I have no idea why the lanes were never marked (only the left turn lane has an arrow). If the right lane can go straight, are cyclists supposed to merge left or merge right since the bike lane ends?

Definitely contact the County and let them know that they need both a right turn arrow painted on the ground and a right turn only sign next to the stoplight.

@Steve O 138900 wrote:

“Most likely”?!?! Really? So there’s a chance they won’t? And if they weren’t doing paving this year would they just leave it til, say, 2020?

How hard is it to send someone out with some paint right now? This is an existing danger that could be mitigated this afternoon, but is being minimized by some lazy bureaucrats. Don’t tell me that if they really, really wanted to correct this immediately, that they couldn’t. It’s not that hard.

Presumably there should already be signage of some kind. That’s something that can be done pretty quickly also and does not need to be coordinated with paving.

C’mon county planners! Do something.

Steve O, I don’t think the planners are in the same division as the TE&O folks who would do the striping. So they couldn’t say for certain without checking in, thus the “most likely” language. I’ll let you know if I hear more. And just to note–Google Street View shows that there hasn’t been any markings in that lane since at least 2007, so it might not be the emergency that you’re making it out to be.

That said, I believe you have the contact information for the bike/ped planners and could follow up with them directly to share your thoughts

@annoyedindc 138904 wrote:

I wonder if the satelite images on Google Earth would go back further than what’s available on maps. I don’t have it on my work computer but can check later tonight.

Unclear. Hard to tell anything before 2006.

@Steve O 138900 wrote:

C’mon county planners! Do something.

What the planner needed to do was hit “forward” and dump it on the appropriate department to fix it. Instead, the planner went above and beyond that, to respond with some additional detail. He can’t say for certain what will be done, because it is not his department or his decision, but he takes a best guess and hedges his language. For that, he is getting attacked. Constructive?

@Steve O 138924 wrote:

As a citizen that is a pretty unsatisfactory response to a clearly dangerous problem.

C’mon. He’s being colloquial. Do I think someone needs to go out RIGHT NOW and fix the painting/put up a sign? eh. not really. And my kids are ferried through here twice a day. It’s not ideal, but signs/paint are not going to really fix it. Based on what I’ve seen, even with signage, some drivers will change their minds and go straight. We need real enforcement of laws (see: ACPD’s ped/bike campaign and their now-deleted pedestrian shaming this week) and safe infrastructure (protected bike lane, safe and usable transitions from the street to the sidewalk).

If something happens and it turns out this doesn’t get paved this summer, or they repave and miss this AGAIN, then yes, get the County on it. And yes, start making the signs, which shouldn’t be effected by the repaving. But don’t STOP THE PRESSES AND GET THIS DONE RIGHT NOW. This is just not the biggest problem we have.

@dasgeh 138952 wrote:

But don’t STOP THE PRESSES AND GET THIS DONE RIGHT NOW. This is just not the biggest problem we have.

Not the biggest problem we have, but something that could be at least partially ameliorated in short order pretty easily with a little paint, and we have a video showing it’s a danger. So why wait months until paving that may or may not happen when it could be addressed this week? That’s more my issue–that an issue that shows a danger to people riding bikes that could be very easily fixed is being sloughed off or minimized.

A better answer that would show respect for the safety of people riding bikes would be: “We’ll send someone out to take a look and see what can be done temporarily to improve the situation and determine a long-term solution.”

Also, although it’s true that street view shows the right lane unmarked back as far as Streetview goes, it’s irrelevant prior to the striping of the bike lane between the two travel lanes, which is shown in the 2012 image but not the 2009.