rugerben

Wow. Good stuff guys. Glad I'm not the only one who has taken matters into my own hands.

Throwmeabone

I've only stopped to move the occasional rock.

Shimagnolo

Exactly the same thing happened to me once, so I stopped by the hardware store, picked up a small pruning shears, and took it along the next ride.

DieselAmy

Look out painting your own lines... a guy not too far from here was arrested for painting a crosswalk! Apparently the charges were just dropped recently, but he was in jail for a bit.

https://www.theindychannel.com/news/15181455/detail.html

coldfeet

I have a similar situation, I'm not going to trim it, it's too public and right outside the owners door, I am going to call it into the city though, I asked them politely, now they will get a rude letter from the city.

I have done some path clearing, just pulling small downed trees off the path, (darn beavers! ) I am trying to get the city to sweep a section of my commute this year that is a problem. For Calgary locals, I'm talking about the section South of the bird sanctuary, alongside the rail yards, if I can't, I picked up a couple of cheap snow shovels, how about I stash them near that part, and we a get a few guys to shovel over a couple of days? instead of fighting the packed, icy, crud that forms there for a few weeks until a good Chinook blows in? Anyone interested? This bit is paticularly bad because it hangs over the river, and the fence and trees funnel it onto the path, it gets bad.

harleyfrog

I've reported stop lights that aren't activated by a bicycle. Have yet to see one fixed, but I'll be bugging, errr, informing Public Works.

i_b_pip

Stops lights would be a bigger undertaking for them since that would take a bit of adjustment, and less manual labor. But informing PW is definitely a good idea, though in some cases it may be a different department that takes care of that stuff. In my case, it's the Parks Dept. that takes care of road maintenance. But even after informing them, I still didn't have enough patience and swept the pedestrain bridge myself.

I know no two municipalities are the same, but Hurst has a "Request for Action" form on their website for any thing of this nature. Also, crosswalks can be coerced from the city by simply requesting them (though you may have to plead your case and have some other people vouch for it)

DataJunkie

I have moved stuff from a bike lane.
There is a MUP that goes down under an overpass while you are turning. Some fool put a large rock at the turn. I was heading the other direction and moved it so that no one would hit it.

YULitle

I've been contemplating sweeping my route for a few months. It's littered with all sorts of debris from pebbles, to rocks, to dead animals and broken glass. It's not so treacherous in the middle but the two ends are awful.

dynodonn 

After reading these posts, I either consider myself very fortunate or very lazy since I have yet to "alter" my route in any way. Usually I'm riding in the traffic lane, and some unfortunate motorist has already moved any object that may have been in the roadway.

spock

After storm Fay, there were some big trees on the bike path and I threw them over the sidewalk area into the ditch. There were too many smaller trees so I skipped those, and few weeks later they mysteriously disappeared.

DoB

I slammed a big chunk of asphault one morning. I stopped to pitch that off the road.

And I'm thinking about taking a broom along for the glass in some areas, but I think the winos will outpace my efforts.

Barrettscv 

Whats the fun in that

Loren3

I did some altering this weekend.

Near my house there's a road closed to auto traffic but open to bikes and peds. The construction barrels were close enough together to be impossible to bike through, so I humped a couple of them a little farther apart.

j mendivil

Seems to me I recently read about someone being charged with vandalism for sawing branches. Does anybody recall this?

j mendivil

I would say, if you must, be discreet, preferably call the city, or leave a note.

PLUChris

There's a really steep hill at the end of my ride home and just before the crest of it, there was a huge fern at the end of someone's drive that jutted out into the road by about 2 feet. As a cyclist, having to check behind you and swerve around it just at that point of the climb was a supreme pain in the arse, and pretty hazardous.

Last week the owners trimmed it back! I actually went down their driveway and knocked on the door to thank them the next day - there was no-one home so I left a note! Hopefully they won't allow it to get to that condition again!

Jonahhobbes

I clean up glass on a failry regular basis too. Have bags and a plastic dust pan and brush just inside the front door in a little back pack, so I dump my commute pack, pick up the little pack and head back out!
Someone please invent biodegradable glass.

neilfein

I've reported a light on the way to work that's only triggered by cars. The city says NJDOT should take care of it, and NJDOT told me to talk to the city.

Those of you with branch problems - before reporting the offending vegetation to the town, have any of you tried knocking on a door and asking very nicely if the tree/bush/hedge will be trimmed anytime soon?

unterhausen

a whisk broom would be a good accessory.

this thread got me started thinking. The town put in a ramp to the bike path at the intersection where I get on the path, but it's still a 2" or more bump to get up from the road onto the ramp. I was thinking about asking them to even it out with some asphalt. Now I'm thinking about finding a piece of asphalt and making a temporary ramp there myself. Doesn't have to be too big.

rugerben

No it doesn't. A small bag of that asphalt crap they use to patch up driveways would probably do just fine. Ride down there with a bag of that, and one of those flat spade dookickeys like what they use to smooth the cement when they ay bricks (please excuse the technical jargon) and smooth it out. Probably worth it, and you will have done a good deed for your community.

hornytoad

i 'sweep' glass/etc. w/ my car tire from shoulders and bike paths when i happen to be driving my auto on one of my bike routes

unterhausen

I do that too, especially on the road up to my house. It's so annoying to have such nice wide shoulders all covered with sharp objects. I never liked painted bike lanes for that reason, they accrete all the junk from the travel lanes that way