4 ms·
>Really what you need is a bunch of paint, This is happening already in Massachusetts. Basically the only way for a city or town to get any state funding for n
by notjulianjaynes 4y ago
>Really what you need is a bunch of paint,
This is happening already in Massachusetts. Basically the only way for a city or town to get any state funding for non-highway roadwork is to sign onto the DOT's "Complete Streets" project [1]. Often this ends up turning a 4 lane (2x2) road into a 3 lane (1x1x1 center turn lane), and then uses the width from the lost 4th lane for a bike lane on either side of the road, with a rumble strip or barrier separating the bike lane from the car lane. Occasionally substitute for a widened pedestrian sidewalk on one side of the road, and a two lane bike lane replacing the sidewalk on the other side.
Since this is the game municipalities have to play to get funding for the same sorts of roadwork they're used to getting funding for, it's lead to, for example, a 1 mile stretch of road with bike lanes separated by a few miles of 4 lane road on one end, and terminating about 100 yards before a dangerous intersection into a mega Walmart parking lot on the other end.[2]
The intention is that gradually as roads need to be repaved, everything will connect. I'm generally for that, but it's made for some hilariously impractical bike lane placement in the interim.
edit: typo
[1] https://www.mass.gov/complete-streets-funding-program https://www.mass.gov/complete-streets-funding-program
[2] https://goo.gl/maps/UifMDXmK4aa79ij47 https://goo.gl/maps/UifMDXmK4aa79ij47 *the satellite imagery here is out of date, but you can see where this road gets split by a center median and goes back to 2x2, which is also where the bike lane ends, just a few hundred feet before a stoplight/intersection with poor visibility.
- ralphslate 4y agoI am also a resident in Massachusetts. In my community, 2x2 roads are having their tree-belt trees clear-cut and are being widened in order to add bike lanes which then don't get used because the roads become much faster due to having fewer trees on them. The idea is good, but the implementation is much worse than if nothing had been done in the first place. The Complete Streets program should have stipulated that the bike lanes be tied to the sidewalks, not to the roads, by building them above the curbing, not on the street. Or at the very least, suggested that this could be done. Those 2x2 roads can get very fast at times, no way would I let my kid ride on them.
- notjulianjaynes 4y agoI've seen 1x1 roads where the sidewalk on one side is replaced with a 2 lane bike lane above the curb. I have to assume this is also part of the complete streets program as municipalities are highly financially incentivized to make their roadwork compliant with the state's wishes. The other issue is that the distribution of local and state controlled segments of road in Massachusetts is pretty heterogeneous, and DOT owned projects don't always fully consider what locals want (in fact people were pretty upset about the above linked stretch, which is under DOT jurisdiction). The euphemism for a 4 lane to 3 lane conversion is "traffic calming," and it's part of Complete Streets, but I believe there are situations where you can get a project approved without it. The data is pretty good about it leading to a reduction in traffic accidents where implemented, however some people have criticized the fact that it creates a bottleneck at the point where the road returns to 2x2, and drivers will attempt to make up for lost time by speeding once the road opens back up. This seemingly makes sense but I haven't seen anything concrete one way or the other about it. Edit: If I recall correctly the standard for implementing traffic calming is if the left lane effectively only functions as a passing lane.
- panick21_ 4y ago2x2 lanes don't have more threw-put 1-1turnlane-1. So yeah, anybody that cuts down trees is generally really bad at their planning job.