If at first you don’t succeed
A few years back, the city got a grant to start putting in bicycle loop detectors at stop lights which required a car to pull up in order to trigger a green light. Working with BikeAlameda, the city identified the intersections for these and quickly put them in. Central and High was one such intersection, the end of the city’s major North/South lanes and connecting with the Fernside Bike Lanes via a one-block ride on a bike route (meaning signs, but no lanes).
However, the original detectors were all separate detectors from the auto detectors and had to be put to the right of existing infrastructure, where a bike lane would typically be. The problem? Central heading west has no lane, just a parking lane that the city’s traffic engineers at the time wanted to be used for right turning vehicles.
It was decided that it was more important to let right turning vehicles not interrupt the High Street green light, than it was to actually allow cyclists to trigger the light. (The goal was to allow cars turning right on High to avoid the trigger at the intersection by using the parking area next to the curb as a right turn lane, so cars could make a right on red and not turn the light red for High Street traffic).
And so, for five or so years, eastbound cyclists have been able to use the lights on Central, but westbound cyclists had to a) wait for cars to arrive to trigger the light, b) dismount and go over and push the pedestrian walk button, or c) decide the light was broken and treat as a stop sign (which is the legal treatment of a stop light that does not change from red for vehicles of any kind). The irony of this decision is that cars park in this area at all times of the day and night, and all cars turning right onto High Street trigger the light, no matter what, so everybody lost with this decision.
But now, Central has been repaved and with the repaving, new sensors (seen above) have been inserted. And consistent with City policy, all new sensors detect bicycles. So starting last week, cyclists can now trigger the lights in both directions on Central Ave. The stencils will be painted in the coming week or so.
have cars using the right side of the road
Jack B.
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:53 am
That’s great. Any chance we can get car and bike sensors for the West End? It’s really a drag to [legally] sit there stopped on a bike when there isn’t any traffic.
Btw…. I LOVE the new bike lanes on Fernside. If I was a car driver on that road every day I’d be miffed but not my problem.
John Knox White
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:41 am
There are already a a ton of these around the Island, East and West Ends, AND all repavings are resulting in D-type sensors that detect both, so no matter where they are located, they’ll get them. The only intersections that don’t get them are ones like broadway and Central, or Park and Central, where the lights are timed and not triggered.
Not quite sure what you would be miffed about on Fernside, with the exception of a small part of the Blvd, it’s been a one-lane (each direction) road since before I moved here, the changes at the western end of the street don’t have any major effect on traffic, it just changes where the merge happens. The overall volume of the street remains the same as it has always been.
Jack B.
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
I thought it was 3 lanes before… but I only use the part from San Jose Ave to get to the bike bridge.
If you ride your bike legally (which I do, especially w/ my kids) the ride to Alameda Pt. w/ the stoplights are agonizing.
David Kirwin
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I use Fernside a lot, and I’m not miffed no matter if I am on my bike, or 4-wheeling. I am however very confused, as we now have 3 bike lanes on the east side of Fernside and none on the west side of Fernside.
It is also disappointing that when on a bike going to Bay Farm Island from Park St or South Shore on Otis, there is no connection (except by jumping the curb) to the beginning of the bike lane. Is it assumed that all bicyclists are to break the law by riding on the sidewalk?
And what is the law concerning ridiong on the sidewalk? If bicycles are ‘motor vehicles’, is it ever legal? At what age is it illegal? Considering the root-bound status of the main bike path on Bay Farm from the shopping center to the San Leandro Bay Bridges, which route does Bike Alameda suggest for adults and students who don’t have mountain bikes?
I’d like to suggest to Bike Alameda that they encourage ‘road riding’ classes for both bicycle riders and drivers. Other communities, like Davis, educate the public and there is a better relationship and level of respect by each class of road user. Perhaps Bike Alameda could talk to ‘Monkeylectric’ (www.monkeylectric.com/) out at the Point and encourage them to sell their bicycle visibility devices at cost to the “Rhode Scholars” who take the classes.
Neal Jarecki
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Not to hijack the thread, but why, exactly, are there three bike lanes from the Bay Farm bridge to LMS?
The two lanes that are separated from traffic by the new median I understand but I don’t get the purpose of the 3rd lane.
Inquiring minds…
Thanks!~
John Knox White
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:09 am
Neal,
There is now an off-road path, bi-directional, on the East side of the street that connects the bridge with the school. The bike lanes are also still on Fernside in both directions for commuters and faster riders to use.