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I happen to know those intersections. They could have improved that wiggle route simply by rating the intersections. I'm not sure but it looks like they were no

I happen to know those intersections. They could have improved that wiggle route simply by rating the intersections. I'm not sure but it looks like they were not doing that. The old route crossed two stop signs and did a left turn at a traffic signal. Left turns at traffic signals really suck. The new, proper wiggle route is two left turns and a right turn, all at stop signs. Left turns at stop signs are not that much worse than going straight across -- and vastly better than a traffic light. Right turns are practically free. So by simply rating the difficulty of intersections using a global metric, it seems like they could have made the same wiggle improvement without getting into rating each section of street. My point here is not that assessing things like accomodation_factor and road_stress are useless. Rather it appears that they've overlooked the much simpler, global improvement of rating intersections.

zten 9y ago
Only tangentially related to your post, but, two new traffic lights are being installed on the Wiggle. Haight is getting nine new lights, two of which are at Scott and Pierce. Maybe people will wiggle slightly differently to avoid the left turns at the lights.
- abalone 9y ago
  Yeah, the SFBC (SF Bike Coalition) is not super happy about those lights. Better for the bus, which is good, but "will also cause delay for pedestrians and bicycle riders."[1] There's no good way to avoid them westbound, but we can be certain eastbound wiggle traffic will start taking Page to avoid the left turn at the Haight & Scott traffic light. And that's going to stress the notorious Scott & Page intersection even more. They're currently adding pedestrian safety improvements.[2] We'll see if it's enough. Unless.. I wonder if timed bicycle signals would help make the traffic signal routes preferable. Not sure if it would work, but that would be a dream.. just flow through the wiggle unimpeded. I can't tell if they're considering it. [1] https://www.sfmta.com/projects-planning/projects/wiggle-neighborhood-green-corridor https://www.sfmta.com/projects-planning/projects/wiggle-neig... [2] https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/projects/2017/Wiggle_Fact%20SheetV3.pdf https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/projects/2017/Wigg...

zten 9y ago

Only tangentially related to your post, but, two new traffic lights are being installed on the Wiggle. Haight is getting nine new lights, two of which are at Scott and Pierce. Maybe people will wiggle slightly differently to avoid the left turns at the lights.

abalone 9y ago
Yeah, the SFBC (SF Bike Coalition) is not super happy about those lights. Better for the bus, which is good, but "will also cause delay for pedestrians and bicycle riders."[1] There's no good way to avoid them westbound, but we can be certain eastbound wiggle traffic will start taking Page to avoid the left turn at the Haight & Scott traffic light. And that's going to stress the notorious Scott & Page intersection even more. They're currently adding pedestrian safety improvements.[2] We'll see if it's enough. Unless.. I wonder if timed bicycle signals would help make the traffic signal routes preferable. Not sure if it would work, but that would be a dream.. just flow through the wiggle unimpeded. I can't tell if they're considering it. [1] https://www.sfmta.com/projects-planning/projects/wiggle-neighborhood-green-corridor https://www.sfmta.com/projects-planning/projects/wiggle-neig... [2] https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/projects/2017/Wiggle_Fact%20SheetV3.pdf https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/projects/2017/Wigg...