HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED CONFLICT?
In our May issue of The Pedal Post (eNewsletter), Bike Fort Collins posed the question: “Have you experienced conflict, or right-of-way confusion on the west bound Mulberry St. bike lane?”
Thank you to those who responded. Below is a recap of the results.
WHAT HAPPENED?
In addition, for those who reported conflict, we asked them to describe their experience. Here is a sampling of the responses we received:
- “Confusing navigation with the parking area near Sheldon lake, cars park over the bike lane forcing me to use a different strategy.”
- “Cars, pedestrians, and cyclists are all frequently in the wrong lanes. I live close by and take the route often, and there are too many instances to list.“
- “People setting up fishing gear in the bike lane.“
- “I have had several near misses with people walking across the bike path at this location”
- “Not practical/logical to follow the designated path on the sidewalk.”
HOW CAN IT BE IMPROVED?
Finally, we asked respondents how they thought the intersection/facility could be improved. Here is a sampling of the responses we received:
- “Put cycling traffic on the road. Encouraging cyclists to ride the path around the lake, having to yield to pedestrians, is absurd.”
- “The parking protected lane should be widened and/or the curbs raced with vertical metal bollards that stop vehicles from parking with their goods hanging into the lane”
- “Bike lane behind cars.“
- “This section is much better than what it had been in the early 2010s — I’d skip the road and take the sidewalk. My problem with this section is that the bike lane keeps changing style (shared, buffered, protected, separated, buffered, protected), which makes it convoluted for everyone. Consistency of some kind would be nice (e.g., separated for the entire section along the park and protected for the remainder of Mulberry).”
- “Allow for natural two way traffic of bicycles, the same way we do for cars. Or keep extending the bike lanes and road diet east. The configuration works – let’s use it in more places.”
Again, thank you to all who responded—and for sharing their experiences. Stay tuned for additional surveys inquiring about other intersections and bicycle facilities.