Sunday, October 8, 2017

a missed opportunity on 91st St.

After all the water and sewer work along 91st St. this summer, I hoped that the traffic diverter that was temporarily removed at 91st and Leavitt might be replaced with a smarter, more bike friendly design. Nope, same old STOOPID design.




These openings are wide enough for a confident bike rider, or perhaps a less confident one when the pavement is clean and in good condition. For a less confident rider in less favorable conditions, or for a senior riding a utility trike, these are less than adequate. A number of seniors in our neighborhood ride utility trikes like this one below for basic transportation. They should be able to ride safely through this intersection and others with diverters.


These Portland examples are much more suitable for accommodating bike traffic.




When infrastructure like these traffic diverters gets removed for construction, there should be an opportunity for public input for potential improvement.  We definitely need to see improvement at 93rd and Damen and at 94th and Leavitt whenever water and sewer work reaches those locations.

I'd love it if the diverter at 94th and Leavitt could be moved to 93rd. The fact that so much traffic is concentrated at 94th, only 1 block from the stoplight at 95th, causes a LOT of traffic conflict and often creates hazardous conditions for cyclists. This is one of only 2 direct street crossings with stoplights to get across 95th, so it's very important for bike use - and for everyone else trying to get across 95th.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

well-researched. it's not too much to ask for the city to do this, i think.