mulveyr 

One of the things that I like about the suburbs around Rochester, NY is that, for the most part, there are usable shoulders, and in some cases, very nice bike lanes.

So last night, I pop on my hi-viz jacket, put on the headlamp and taillight, and go for a ride. I'm tooling along and then, just at the limit of my light's reach, I see a pile of yard debris in the shoulder, completely blocking it. Crap. OK, I go around, and continue on... for about 100 yards. When I come across another pile. And then another. And then another.

It goes on like this until I get to the bike lane. At which point there's an entire *tree* in blocking the lane. I can now attest to the fact that an evergreen does not show up well when contrasted against a dark road. And the ever-present piles of yard waste continue to show up in the lane, until I turn off into another town.

So I sent a nice, polite email to the Highway Department supervisor, pointing out that all of these people are violating town codes, endangering cyclists and pedestrians, yada yada. I'm hoping that they'll actually do something about these people, but realistically, don't expect much.

But it just boggles my mind - what sort of complete moron completely blocks shoulders and *bike lanes*? I cannot imagine the sort of mindset in which that comes even remotely close to being a good idea. Heck, if they leave it on the lawn at the curb where they're supposed to, they don't have to carry their waste as far.

*sigh*

rumrunn6

send it to your sheriff to in case they get complaints from cyclists in the main travel lane - they will know why.

traditionally there has been "curbside rubbish removal". only problem is it conflicts with bike lanes

mwchandler21

What division of the DOT or county Road dept did you send it to? Debris adjacent to travel lanes is a clear zone safety issue for automobiles as well as the issues you brought up. The Safety Engineer or maybe Traffic Engineer for your area would likely be the one to bring this up to. Also a Maintenance Supervisor may be able to help but may not see it as big of a deal as someone from Traffic/Safety would.

tjwarren

Just to play devil's advocate, is it possible that the debris and tree/limb was blown into the road? I'm in northern NY, and yesterday was pretty windy.

mwchandler21

Either way it is a traffic safety issue for cars and bikes. But the OP seemed to indicate piles of debris implying it was intentionally put there, probably for a curbside trash removal service I imagine.

pitchpole

Isnt the bike lane made for long term storage of general road debris? Around here junk in the bike lane might stay there for months unless I stop and toss it into the grass. My favorite so far was a piece of black channel iron lying across the whole lane on a hill. If some debris is laying in the vehicle travel lanes on the other hand the DOT is all over it.

mulveyr 

Not a chance - this was stuff that was, in many cases, neatly piled right in the lane, and didn't extend into the car lanes.

mulveyr 

I used the contact address for the "Highway Department Supervisor" from the town's website, as that seemed to be the most appropriate first contact - they're the ones who put out a brochure explaining how lawn debris for roadside pickup should be handled - including the statement to place it on their lawn, not on the shoulder. ;-) If I don't get any response there, I'll try the county level engineer.

WeRideNorth

In DC, and I imagine many cities in the US, bike lanes are prohibited from being used for rubbish.

Instead, they're used for deliveries, double-parking, moving trucks, taxi stands, and, oh yes, parking enforcement vehicles in the process of writing tickets. It's incredibly maddening, and I feel for you.

DX-MAN

OK, suburban bike lanes, which means largely residential streets....

Yup, it will be abused by homeowners; they mostly think they own the curb, the sidewalk, and the parking area next to the curb, and can do as they damned well please with that space. (Conversely, renters largely think their responsibility ends at the front storm door....) Some municipalities have departments just for this; mine has "Neighborhood Code Enforcement", which oversees everything from height of the grass to cars in the driveway, to how far the family dog is tethered from the property line. NCE would pass this one along, however, to the Right Of Way Office, who would deal with it (and they DO do their jobs).

CB HI

Sounds like "green waste" recycle pick up day. Which means, residents are probably required to put it there to make things easy for the trash truck guys.

mulveyr 

It is part of the town's Spring pickup, but the residents are specifically instructed to leave their debris on their yard, next to the curb, and no farther.

Spire

Sounds like a good rule to me, are most places like this?

ItsJustMe

So clearly it should not be picked up until the residents move it back.

sggoodri

You mean like this?:



The municipality should be contacted to take action. The municipality may clean it up themselves, as happend on the street in the top picture. The city may also notify the home owners to clean up the street. Another possible outcome is that backlash from residents leads to removal of the bike lane stripes. That happend on the street shown in the second picture above.

Bekologist

Yup. And reprehensible that public policy and roadway acommodations can be shaped by irate property owners over the wise, fair useage of rights of way in a transportation network that benefits all members of the public. That homeowners can get bikelanes thwarted because of their gripes of how the road outside their house is striped is reprehensible.

this type of Nimbyist obstructionism should be penalized with a NIMBY tax similar to how the federal government witholds funding if governing bodies fail to meet guidelines for federal funding-

if residents got together to block a bike lane and get it removed, they would be taxed and required to pay fully for local road maintence directly in front of their properties.

sggoodri

It's best if the local government thinks through the reasons why things are being left in the street.

If the trash and debris collection services have been telling people to put their waste in the street for years, or did not specify to keep it behind the curb, then there is an entrenched culture that needs to change, and that effort needs to include participation from the sanitation service, who may be part of the problem. (In my city, the sanitation service regularly leaves recycle bins and garbage bins in the roadway after emptying them.)

If the neighborhood has driveways that are steep or too small for the parking demand, there will be high demand for on-street parking. Trying to prohibit it in such a location is sure to create backlash; better to not try to stripe bike lanes on such a street.

One beneficial effect of neighbors claiming ownership of their street is greater vigilance for unsafe drivers and demand for traffic enforcement. Also, some of my neighbors's kids play basketball on our through street. They feel entitled to require drivers to slow down and stop before they move out of the roadway. This is the most effective form of traffic calming I've ever seen in town.

Bekologist

Steve,

I'd strongly disagree with any concession to NIMBYist property owners being able to block or remove bike lanes on bike routes that are part of a bike master plan to acommodate cycling in a community because they want to park on the side of the road, dude.

noisebeam

I simply don't see the point of bike lanes on residential streets of the type where there are multiple/frequent driveways, possibility of kids playing in street, option for on street parking, etc.

mulveyr 

The street in question is utterly flat, and the yards are huge; Here's a portion of the one that had constant debris: https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...21.26,,0,-0.18

Note the oodles of flat, inviting space in which the stuff cold have been put.

ItsJustMe

Yeah, I don't see why the road pictured above even needs bike lanes either. Sure doesn't look like a 50 MPH heavily traveled route to me.

skye

Just cut to the good part. You've already notified the city, now send a polite letter to the residents whose house this is in front of, wait 2 days and boom! -- have an accident. Pick the lawyer of your choice and sue the city and the homeowners until they're bleeding from every orifice.

Seattle Forrest

The bike lane is also there so that car drivers can make a more relaxed right turn.

Maybe you should sweep the debris into the auto lanes?

Digital_Cowboy

Which unfortunately will leave it in the bike lane blocking bicycle traffic for a longer period of time. The residents who placed their spring clean up trash in the bike lane should be issued a warning to remove it from the bike lane ASAP. And if it isn't removed within a reasonable period of time like maybe 3 or 4 hours after the warning they're issued a ticket and a fine.

Digital_Cowboy

I like that, out of course to the middle of the road. I forget which town it was now, but when I was in NY taking care of my Grandmother I remember hearing about a town that required home/property owners to be responsible for the maintenance the sidewalk in front of their house. So in town like that extending it to the road out to the center lane wold make some degree of sense.