Advocacy & Safety - Construction signs

Why when there is road work do they always put the sings in the bike lanes? I rode to a friends house yesterday and for a mile I had to dodge in and out of 45mph traffic to doge stupid road signs for construction, why wouldn’t they put them on sidewalks where people can just walk around them? also since they had all this construction I almost got right hooked with a guy with no blinker on or anything, also riding back today some people doing some back hoeing parked all there crap in the bike lane! so I had to go into the road to dodge all that... to me when im on my bike this would be the same thing to me if they where just to park in the middle of street when im driving my car, im just ranting I guess, did you all start to realize these things when you first started?

They call them bike lanes, but everyone else gets firs crack at them. Besides construction signs, I have observed that the following like to occupy these extra spaces at the side of the road: parked cars, right turners, pedestrians, cars pulling out of side streets and driveways, cops directing traffic, cops with motorists pulled over, cops eating donuts, truckers taking naps, truckers cavorting with hookers, hookers looking for tricks, crack dealers, beer bottles, tree limbs, sewer grates, crumbling asphalt, etc. Oh yeah--once in a while, cyclists.

If you don't feel safe and comfortable in the bike lane, you almost always have every right to ride to the left of it.

I've been known to kick Open House signs and other crap out of the marked shoulder as I ride by. I don't mess with construction signs... they count as a legal traffic control device.

hookers looking for tricks, crack dealers, .

Where? I miss all the fun.

On my street, unfortunately. Life in the big city!

... tree limbs, sewer grates, crumbling asphalt, etc.

They recently re did a bike line along a higway shoulder and there are two bike swolling grates that go across the whole lane. I understan the need for drainage, but this is a heavily used peice of asphlat used by a lot of cyclist going pretty fast. I ride the white line next too it, but I am jsut wqaitng to here about someone who hit it and was thrown into traffic.

They call them bike lanes, but everyone else gets firs crack at them. Besides construction signs, I have observed that the following like to occupy these extra spaces at the side of the road:

...


You left out my favorite, cars going around other cars that are turning left. I almost got clipped twice within a few miles by that manoeuvre.

Yea i have a few man killer grates on some BL i ride but i knwo there there at the least they could spray paint around them with neon or something to make it visable. But anyways just amazing what i didnt care about 3 weeks ago now bugs the hell out of me... Oh and its cool when u get the head nod from the Cyclist across the street thats decked out with gear and a nice touring bike...

Does this look like a typical bike lane?


http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore_200404.html

lmao no mine arnt that bad they just drop about 3 inches from so much paving.... but that one your showing man thats a gaunlet

Last winter I got caught by a construction sign laid flat in the middle of the bike lane with the legs of the iron stand spread completely across the lane like a V-shaped trap. I hit it in the dark at about 15 mph and wiped out good, destroying my front wheel. The construction company was very responsive when I complained. They paid for a new wheel and never left the signs like that again. You could try contacting the builder - they just hate the thought of personal injury lawsuits. No need to threaten them. Just explain the problem. Who knows, maybe they'll move the signs.

The signs have to go someplace. The sidewalk would be just as bad as the bike lane. If there is a grass median between the curb and the sidewalk that is where the signs should go. The bike lane is the same as the shoulder so if they are taking the bike lane, they should put up signs saying so. If there is room for the signs to be moved closer to the curb, you could stop at the construction site and ask that they slide the signs over as far to the right as...... practicable...

[QUOTE=Roody]Does this look like a typical bike lane?

Yes, I spotted that as a So Cal bike lane even before I scrolled down (the "only rain in the drain" marker tipped me off).

The signs have to go someplace. The sidewalk would be just as bad as the bike lane. If there is a grass median between the curb and the sidewalk that is where the signs should go. The bike lane is the same as the shoulder so if they are taking the bike lane, they should put up signs saying so. If there is room for the signs to be moved closer to the curb, you could stop at the construction site and ask that they slide the signs over as far to the right as...... practicable...

I don't think the sidewalk would be just as bad. Pedestrians generally don't travel down the sidewalk at 20 mph.

thats what i was thinking maybe the shoulda used one of the car lanes cars had 2 lanes i had 1 and peds have 1

I don't think the sidewalk would be just as bad. Pedestrians generally don't travel down the sidewalk at 20 mph.

Sidewalks need to be unobstructed for the occasional wheelchair or old person. Taking someone else's area to save your own is rude.

Sidewalks need to be unobstructed for the occasional wheelchair or old person. Taking someone else's area to save your own is rude.

Ok let's put it in the middle of the road problem solved...!

I think it's funny when one group complains about something taking up thier 'rightful' space and thinks nothing of transplaning the problem onto somebody else's space.....

Who cares? Construction is temporary - go around the signs, go into the next lane. I do this all the time as there is often construction when new driveways, shopping centers, roads, lanes are added. Its just a normal part of using roads.

Al

Can't do that... that would call for some deductive reasoning...

Who cares? Construction is temporary - go around the signs, go into the next lane. I do this all the time as there is often construction when new driveways, shopping centers, roads, lanes are added. Its just a normal part of using roads. I generally concur, Al, but there are situations in which the signs represent significant hazards to bicyclists, even vehicular ones. My view is simply that, whenever practicable, the signs should be placed in a manner which does not interfere with the normal flow of bicycle traffic.

There are times that the signs can be very helpful to us, as during the recent repaving of Palomar Airport Road, a 6-lane prime arterial. For almost two weeks, the bike lanes were heavily grooved and unrideable on any road bike and most mountain bikes, as well. I finally was able to convince the City of Carlsbad's traffic engineering department to erect "bike lane closed" signs, as much as anything else to alert motorists that bicyclists would be taking the right lane. Yes, the anti-bikelaners can use this story, but my point would be valid on any sharably wide outside lane, with or without bike lane demarcation.

The very welcome sign I rarely see in a construction zone is "share the road," with a bicycle graphic. To its credit, the City of San Diego has placed such signs at the bridge reconstruction just north of the Torrey Pines Reserve.

As for obstructions in bike lanes or useful road shoulders, I, too routinely move them in the interest of safety, such as from a paved road shoulder or bike lane to an adjacent unpaved shoulder.

They recently redid a bike line along a higway shoulder and there are two bike swallowing grates that go across the whole lane. ... Where is this? On the I-5 shoulder? Southbound from Roselle to Genesee, or northbound? Decades ago, cycling advocates (and some ambulance chasers) forced a significant change in road construction policy and civil engineering practice, specifically the replacement of tyre-swallowing grates with bicycle-friendly ones. Has CarTrance (sorry, CalTrans) taken a 30-year step backward?

I hate those signs in my way too, but even more infuriating is what happens during political campains.

During key days in campains, campain workers and volunteers stand in bunches waving signs at passing traffic during rush hour directly in my way. Most try to get out of the way when I come along, but in large groups, there are always a couple that don't.

They're not getting my vote.

The bike lane is like the margin of error for most drivers. It also doubles as a parking lane, passing lane, break down lane, and equipment lane.

At least you don't have signs like this lying around..
http://www.cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh/images/q-t/signsharpedges.jpg

I didnt mind goign int he road to go around them but i did almsiot get right hooked at the stop light cause the guy was paying so much attenion to the construction going on on the other side of the road... Oh well i geuss..

Last winter I got caught by a construction sign laid flat in the middle of the bike lane with the legs of the iron stand spread completely across the lane like a V-shaped trap. I hit it in the dark at about 15 mph and wiped out good, destroying my front wheel. The construction company was very responsive when I complained. They paid for a new wheel and never left the signs like that again. You could try contacting the builder - they just hate the thought of personal injury lawsuits. No need to threaten them. Just explain the problem. Who knows, maybe they'll move the signs.


Sounds like you need lights, or at least better ones.

Yes, I hate construction signs being in the bike lane. It's not so much a bike lane problem as it is a construction problem. They simply don't consider any other mode of transportation out there other than cars.

For example, I recall once they were digging a trench across an entire street and had placed steel plates across the trench so traffic could still pass. But what they did was place two steel plates where they expected car tires to be. I was on a motorscooter travelling down the center. It wasn't until the last possible moment I realized what was going on and still to this day I'm not even sure how I made it across. I did not feel my wheels on the steel. I think I flew across.

Another example is there is a local road going through construction right now. They've left huge 6 inch drop-offs everywhere and big huge blobs of asphalt. Very difficult maneuvering on a motorscooter with tiny little wheels. It's a minefield. A lot of cars get pretty annoyed with me slowing down in the middle of the street for what appears to them to be no apparent reason.

On the way home from work tonight there was a large "Newscenter 7" TV news van parked right on the bike path just over the bridge I was crossing. They were getting ready to do a live news report. I liked to have hung around until they actually broadcasted and then I would have grabbed the mike out of the reporter's hand and publicly scolded them on TV for blocking the bike path! :mad: But it was late and I just wanted to get home. :D

Where is this? On the I-5 shoulder? Southbound from Roselle to Genesee, or northbound? Decades ago, cycling advocates (and some ambulance chasers) forced a significant change in road construction policy and civil engineering practice, specifically the replacement of tyre-swallowing grates with bicycle-friendly ones. Has CarTrance (sorry, CalTrans) taken a 30-year step backward?
I'm don't know which road UCSDbikeAnarchy is referring to, but I frequently ride the I-5 shoulder between Genesee and Sorrento in both directions.

The southbound shoulder has no significant fixed obstructions that I can think of, just the typical road debris and a bit of lumpy asphalt on the off-ramp.

The northbound shoulder has recently been re-paved, and the area cordoned off for bike use shifts from time to time. Recently, the bike area has been routed across several drainage gratings, the type with lateral pieces which are only a few inches apart (as in Roody's link (http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore_200404.html)). Even though they don't appear to be the evil bike-swallowing type, I still slow way down and navigate the narrow bits around the periphery rather than risk having a wheel tweaked.

-JAB