HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED CONFLICT?
In our March issue of The Pedal Post (eNewsletter), Bike Fort Collins posed the question: “Have you experienced conflict or felt unsafe while navigating the intersection of Prospect Rd and the Mason Trail?”
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:
- “Traffic is going way too fast to be so close to cyclists. I’m always very nervous will my children here. It’s unfortunate to have such a wonderful trail like Mason provide such an efficient artery across Fort Collins, but have it chopped into segments by dangerous road crossings (Drake & Harmony have similar cases). You’re required to watch out for 4 lanes of traffic (cars) and 2 lanes of buses”
- “Feel unsafe with my young daughter at this intersection because it is very crowded and very close to fast traffic.”
- “The intersection of the road, train tracks, and Maxline can be too much to keep track of and makes me nervous. Also, the train tracks are often uneven and awkward to cross. Also, at certain times there are many pedestrians crossing and it gets very crowded.”
- “ there are no lights….its extremely dark on that part of the trail just to the south of prospect and I have had numerous run ins with people at night. Second, crossing on the mason trail, you have to go across and then a sharp turn to stay on the trail regardless of direction. If there are bikes coming the other way, you almost always have to veer onto the actual road so that all the bikes can pass safely.“
- “The proximity to traffic, bus, and train when crossing from the south made me very nervous. Having to cross the train tracks and Max path when traveling from the north is also a problem.“
- “ Which time? The sidewalk on Prospect is too skinny. I haven’t found the lights to be responsive. Motorists are so focused on not ending up straddling the tracks that they’re not paying attention to other things going on on or around the road. Because most bicyclists going east-west aren’t on the street, it means additional bike/ped conflict on that skinny 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:
- “For the love of whatever- please increase the time to cross the intersection! I have often just crossed on the road instead of the sidewalk due to available space and volume of people outside of cars. It would be great if the cross lights would allow enough time to cross while using the road. Perhaps widen the trail intake points and minimize the size of the traffic furniture. The bus crossing being timed to coincide with vulnerable road users crossing may be great for traffic flow, but does not help the situation for those using the Mason Trail. Drivers might get upset at waiting a little longer at a light to allow all of this to happen, but they are sitting in a climate controlled, noise reducing environment. They will be okay.”
- Widen the sidewalks on both sides, at a minimum. Ideally, redesign the entire intersection.”
- “Ideally some sort of underpass/overpass. Other than that it would maybe have to be one sort of redirection trail to the Remington underpass.”
- “Maybe an over pass. Or an underpass. Or somekind of crossing that connects to the bike path on the other side. Not only do you have to cross, but also cross the max lane.”
- “The misalignment of the path as it crosses Prospect is odd as it has 2 crosswalks and both require a quick 90 degree turn on the sidewalk.”
- “Have a diagonal crossing to connect the bike path.”
Again, thank you to all who responded—and for sharing their experiences. Stay tuned for additional surveys inquiring about other intersections and bicycle facilities.