Magic disappearing bicycle lanes....update.

My big problem with the very lengthy write up below is the lack of process.  If you don't know, it takes a ton of work to get a bike lane striped on a road (even when room is available and people want it).  I'm talking about getting the people in charge to put the idea on an agenda and get it discussed, getting the idea to an engineer, measuring roads for evaluation, creating multiple lane configuration options, presenting to the public (multiple times), and final presentation and adoption by the city.  Basically, years of work before these lanes appear.

However, if you want to remove a bike lane....apparently you need a complaint and a quick (one day) study and we can wipe it away.  NO PROCESS....NO OVERSIGHT....NO PUBLIC....NO REVIEW...AND A SUPER DANGEROUS PRECEDENT!


Ok, so now I'll try to lay out the whole case on this.  First off, location (Capital Blvd.)....this is an industrial park area located south of Mill St., West of McCarren Ave., and north of Rock Blvd. or here:

The thin red lines are existing bike routes and the ridiculously thick red line is Capital Blvd. and the infamous disappearing bicycle lane.

Here's a picture from last year (mid-October):

Notice the idiots parked in the clearly marked bike lane....

And a picture from this year (mid-October):

Notice anything missing? 

Well, the parking volume is the same....but the bike lane is MIA!  This prompted me to email RTC regarding whether we were in the habit of removing bike lanes.  My original email is below:

Hi Guys,

I took a little lunch time ride today out by my office (Mill / Rock).  Not a great place to ride but the bike lanes on Mill have really made it more pleasant and give access to the industrial area and University farm (Clean Water Way).  I was tooling my way along Capital Blvd., which in the past has been a place that folks like to park in the bike lanes even though every building has adequate parking.  Here’s a picture from October of last year….

No big deal…it’s easy to ride around.  However, here’s a picture of the exact same location today.

 

While the parking situation remains the same…..something seems to have been forcibly removed!  I sure didn’t see this announcement come up at any BPAC or RTP meetings in the last year!!

So, does anyone know anything about bike lane removals.  More specifically, I’m curious who paid for the work and how it got approved?

Any insight would be great.  If anyone’s interested the approximate address is 1300 block of Capital Blvd.

Cheers,

Andy

This email was bounced around RTC (including the bigwigs) and nobody knew anything about it.  It was then sent through the City of Reno staff (and nobody seemed to know anything).  Until it finally found it's way to Steve Bunnell, (Traffic Engineer).  He sent out the (in my opinion) very carefully worded email below:

We did receive a complaint on Capital Boulevard that it had improperly striped and signed bike lanes.  We did a field investigation back in June and found that there was heavy on-street parking demand and a 7.5 feet stripe that was functioning more as a parking lane than a bike lane through this section.  Adjacent businesses were contacted and they claimed to have never been informed that on-street parking was being removed when it was initially striped.  Because of the heavy on-street parking demand along certain sections of Capital (and low bike usage), we determined it would be best served to continue to allow on-street parking in this industrial area.  This was also the request of the adjacent businesses. 

We initially checked and found that Capital Boulevard isn't designated for any existing or future bicycle facilities on both the RTC's 2012 Reno/Sparks Bike Map and in the RTC's 2011 Reno Sparks Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.  Edison Way is the designated bike lane section through this area.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Steve

    

Steve Bunnell, P.E.

Traffic Engineer

City of Reno

Phone: 775-334-2333 

 Here's my initial rip of Steve's email (my comments to each part of his email are in red)....which I only sent to a friend so I could vent:

We did receive a complaint on Capital Boulevard that it had improperly striped and signed bike lanes.

Improperly stripped and signed?  When is adding a bike lane ever improper?  Especially when there is room?

We did a field investigation back in June and found that there was heavy on-street parking demand and a 7.5 feet stripe that was functioning more as a parking lane than a bike lane through this section.

So when we want to improve streets (e.g. add bike lanes) we do exhaustive studies over months or years that require multiple public meetings and input from the City Council (Plumas as an example)….but if we want to remove bike lanes, it takes a single complaint and a quick one day study???

There is ABSOLUTELY NOT “heavy on-street parking demand.  I ride this area regularly and it’s usually less than 3-5 cars parked on street.  The parking lots for businesses on Capital are huge and always have empty spaces.

Adjacent businesses were contacted and they claimed to have never been informed that on-street parking was being removed when it was initially striped. 

I find this hard to believe given the normal public process we go through to restripe roads with bike lanes.

Because of the heavy on-street parking demand along certain sections of Capital (and low bike usage), we determined it would be best served to continue to allow on-street parking in this industrial area.  This was also the request of the adjacent businesses. 

Again, there is not heavy on-street parking….if they did a study, let’s see it.  True, not many people bike here….but now even less people will!

We initially checked and found that Capital Boulevard isn't designated for any existing or future bicycle facilities on both the RTC's 2012 Reno/Sparks Bike Map and in the RTC's 2011 Reno Sparks Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.  Edison Way is the designated bike lane section through this area.  Let me know if you have any questions.

So if we’re looking at the RTC's 2012 Reno/Sparks Bike Map and in the RTC's 2011 Reno Sparks Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan as the gospel….we better just mark every street as “future bicycle facilities”! 

I also find it ironic that the city of Reno had time to do this study and remove bike lanes and signage that were already there …..and point to Edison as the go to bike route, when anyone who drove down both streets could clearly see that Edison Way is the road with Heavy on-street parking and no current bike lane designation.

Also it’s ridiculous to spend city dollars to remove bike lanes (especially as the 1^st step).  How about putting in the bike lanes on Edison and then removing the lanes on Capital?  Can you imagine if you reversed this situation with a road for vehicle traffic.  Sorry, this was supposed to be a sidewalk only so we took out the road.  The designated road the plan is Edison….but Edison Way is currently only a sidewalk!  Completely ridiculous.

Ok, so that’s my rant.  I’m debating on whether to send a copy to Steve directly and ask for comments.  At the very least the system appears to be biased on how easy it is to remove a bike land vs. put one in.  Something for BPAC to tackle I’m thinking!!

Thanks for the update.

Cheers,

Andy

Now of course I didn't send this to him.  I now am in the process of writing a real letter to Mr. Bunnell which I will copy pretty much everyone I can think of on.  Right now it looks something like this:

Hi Steve,

I was forwarded your response to the inquiry regarding the removal of bicycle lanes on Capital Blvd.  As someone who uses this route while riding, I’d like to voice a few points of concern.

I sit on the Regional Transportation Plan citizen’s advisory board and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board (BPAC).  I’ve watched the rather involved process that occurs to restripe an existing road way with bicycle lanes.  RTC conducts traffic studies, prepares multiple lane configuration options, presents ideas and options at public meetings and gather public comments, and then presents the idea to the city council.  A rather cumbersome process if truth be told, however, it seems much less is needed to remove a bicycle lane and I find this rather disturbing.

I specifically am bothered that a single complaint ended in the removal of a bicycle lane.  The complaint apparently resulted in the field investigation that was done in June of 2011 that concluded that there was heavy on-street parking demand.  I’m surprised that no additional process was required.  RTC was unaware of the decision, BPAC wasn’t consulted, and no public process or city council vote was apparently needed.  While I don’t ride there regularly, I’ve never seen more than 5-6 vehicles parked on Capital Blvd. and each business in this area have large parking lots. 

The suggestion that Edison Way is the designated bicycle route is also problematic as it has significantly more traffic and actually does have heavy on-street parking (even in my opinion) making it a poor choice for future development of bicycle lanes.

Finally, I’m concerned about the cost of a field investigation and removal of the bike lanes and signage.  Given the fact that it often takes hard won dollars from multiple grant sources to build bicycle lanes, it seems a poor choice to spend money removing lanes. 

So, basically I'm calling him out on removing a bike lane one the sly (in my opinion).  Not sure if this is the final format the letter will take, but it's a start.  If anyone has comments or edits feel free to let me know.  I'm planning on pulling the trigger on it in about a week or so.