I've been spending a lot of time in Tigard recently. As such, I've been encountering Mike McCarthy a lot.
In the past I complained about problems with the abrupt end of the bike lane on the EB lane of SW Durham Road, just before the SW Hall/SW 85th intersection. Motorists were crowding me, and although I saw that there was a narrowing of the road there, I could clearly see that there was enough space for a reduced width bike lane, that would rapidly expand to the standard width past a tree that the city protected.
A few weeks ago, I ran into Mike, and he was marking out the bike lane. While I had his attention, I pointed out the sunken storm drain catchbasin (or Black Hole Catchbasin as I call them) that was right there too. I explained the problems that cyclists have with them (especially at night or in bad weather). He decided to try marking some of them.
Yesterday, I noticed that the bike lane was installed, and so were some of the grate markings.
Mike also told me that Tigard is raising catchbasins in areas where they are repaving to prevent "Black Holes".
Thanks Mike, Thanks Tigard!
K'Tesh