Advocacy & Safety - AZ: MAG Regional Bikeway Master Plan July-2007

I think there are bits of this that are relevant/interesting to people who live outside of Maricopa County AZ.

Of interest to me are the project descriptions that start on p.65.
-p.68 there is a concept for a NO RTOR signal that changes according to need.
-p.79 proposal for a HAWK signal crossing. p.43 describes in detail how it works.
-p.69 is concept for a inductive sensor in BL that triggers a Share the Road sign for the section of road ahead that has no BL. I have some issues with this as I often make a left here and would not trigger the STR sign unless I made a very late merge. When going straight I also am usually out of BL by this point. I don't need a STR sign, but if drivers assume there is no cyclist if it is not lit...
-p.72 is adding door zone bike lanes to a 25mph road, sigh. I ride this every week a couple of times during rush hour. Yes traffic is heavy, but due to volume moves at 25mph. Biggest danger is from cars pulling out of on street parking and right turners.

Note: A 14.5MB pdf:
http://www.mag.maricopa.gov/pdf/cms.resource/Maricopa-Regional-Plan-July-2007.pdf

Al

I lke those HAWK signals.

if any road DOESN'T need a bike lane, it's Alameda.

I like the connectivity ideas and I might use paved canal paths,

I lke those HAWK signals.

if any road DOESN'T need a bike lane, it's Alameda.

I like the connectivity ideas and I might use paved canal paths,

HAWK signals to date are mainly pedestrian oriented. If done for bicycle paths they need to be inductively activated.

Totally agree with Alameda, obviously. That is what happens though, where it easy to put in BLs it gets prioritized. Slap some paint down, create door zone bike lanes, and gain points to help the effort to move from a LAB Silver level to Gold. What they need to do is patrol for speed with zero tollerance for over posted 25mph, or if that is not legally possible, set the SL to 15mph and continue to use the 11mph over acceptable speeding that is the current practice. The reason the traffic is heavy during rush hour is that drivers know they can beat the backed up traffic on Southern, Broadway, but only if they speed. What I also don't want to see is traffic calming that hinders and increases danger cyclists as well, such as the bulb out with 'gutter channel BL' put on other 25mph roads

I too would use some canal paths if paved, maintained (far too often they get gravel, glass on them) and most importantly had HAWK like priority signals to cross arterials. The lack of safe and effcient ways to cross busy arterials is currenly the weakest point of using canal paths. One can use different tires today for the gravel, but still may need to wait many minutes to find a small gap in rush hour to dangeroulsy dart across the arterials.

As to the bike lane activated lit up 'Share the Road' sign for crossing under 101 on Chandler, I will strongly advocate for just a permanent normal Share the Road sign instead. I do not want a overly technical and far more pricey systems that is certain to give false negatives.

Al