From: kuehn@super.org (James T. Kuehn)
Subject: Re: Tucson bike lanes 
Organization: Supercomputing Research Center (Bowie, MD)
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 00:13:37 GMT

	zstern@adobe.com (Zalman Stern) writes:

>I was in Tucson over the holidays. People kept commenting on how great the  
>bike lanes on Mountain are. Mountain is a major two lane road with a newly  
>installed ~five foot cobble stone divider and a bike lane on each side of  
>the street. I got into a couple of arguments when I expressed the opinion  
>that the cobble stone divider was at best a waste of good lane width and at  
>worst very dangerous. (Its especially treacherous looking at intersections  
>because there is almost no room to merge with thru-traffic to avoid  
>right-turn hooks.) 

Tucson has been experimenting with various designs for several years now,
the Mountain segment being one of the more recent examples.

The bike trail along Old Spanish Trail, which extends east to Saguaro NM
is among the worst designs, yet it is very heavily used.  Since the trail 
is only on the north side of the road, it is bi-directional, yet has
no centerline.  It crosses several other roads at non-right angles,
and has a deteriorating surface to boot.  It is separated from the
road by gravel, which tends to accumulate in the low spots and intersections.

Mountain is an adaptation of the OST design, but improved with 
unidirectional traffic flow, "pave" to catch the gravel before it
washes onto the trail, and a tire-noise-making surface for errant motorists.
But as you point out, it is far from perfect.

I much prefer the bike "lanes" along Skyline/Sunrise and Speedway.
These were strewn with gravel due to recent deluges since the holidays
but remain well-marked and have explicit signs that indicate where 
right-turning cars must give right-of-way to through cyclists.

>According to a classmate of mine from high school, these lanes cost two  
>million dollars ($2e6) per mile to build. They were installed because Tucson  
>has a very high cyclist fatality rate compared to the rest of the nation.  

That dollar figure sounds excessive and extravagant.  Bicycle facilities
are installed in Tucson because it has established the following policy:
bicycle facilities (lanes) are to be established on all major arteries
or collectors when they are constructed or undergo a major upgrade.
I was unaware that Tucson cyclists have a high fatality RATE; however, 
it certainly has a high cyclist density, a high traffic density, lots
of clueless out-of-town visitors (referred to as "snowbirds"), and
a central-city university to which bicycle commuting is very popular. 

>My comment was  
>"judging on the number of people I've seen riding on the wrong side of the  
>road and other incompetent things, they should have left out a mile or two  
>and put the money towards education programs."

I'd have to agree that there is a problem with that kind of behavior 
downtown and near the UofA.  

There are bright spots though: between Christmas and New Year's 
I rode about 350 miles on lots of shoulderless 2-lane road and was 
treated with respect and courtesy by all.  Because on-road cyclists
in Tuscon are a frequent sight, drivers seem to know how to cope.
There is far more inconsistent driving here in Maryland where 
the bicycle frequency is lower and the sight-lines are shorter.

--jim kuehn
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc