Presentation of Three More Improvement Opps Prompts Great Discussion with City’s BAC

Consistent with previous presentations, BFC shared three improvement opportunities with the City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) at its monthly meeting earlier this week (October 24) garnering some great discussion.

One of the intersections was also featured last month as part of our monthly Intersection-Facility Focus survey in The Pedal Post eNewsletter. And, similar to previous presentations, we incorporated the results from the survey into the presentation.

• Remington Street & Spring Park Drive Intersection
• Recessed Access Caps (and Manhole Covers)
• WB Horsetooth Road & College Avenue (Signal)

Here are the problem(s)/issue(s) and potential considerations that we highlighted for the group for each opportunity:

Intersection of Remington Street & Spring Park Drive – This intersection was recently put at the top of our list based on an email we received from a community member citing how dangerous it is, especially in light of its proximity to a day care facility on the southeast corner of the intersection. At this intersection we showcased how motorists traveling southbound on Remington Street wanting to turn right or west onto Spring Park Drive have a tendency to fail to come to a complete stop at the stop sign, where the Spring Creek Trail subsequently passes. And, in rolling through the intersection, motorists often do not look to their right posing potential conflicts with eastbound Spring Creek Trail users (both bikes and peds)(see video below). The belief for why this happens is that the existence of the Spring Creek Trail crossing is not communicated nearly enough as southbound vehicular traffic on Remington approaches the intersection. As we presented this, BAC members also added how the parallel parked vehicles on Spring Park Drive and vegetation at the intersection also serve to impact visibility of bicycles and peds for southbound Remington motorists.

Improvement considerations that were presented included more signage and/or street markings and messaging intended for southbound vehicles on Remington, as well as a center median sign post communicating the presence of the two-way shared path and that active mode traffic on the path does not stop. We also suggested adding green skip dashing to the crosswalk to draw more attention to it for motorists, as well as communicate that the crossing includes bike traffic too.

Recessed Access Caps – For this improvement opportunity, BFC highlighted the potholes that are essentially created in bike lanes after streets are resurfaced around the city, when the access caps and/or manhole covers are not finished to be flush with the new road surface. BFC shared a video of a recently resurfaced street showcasing a number of recessed access caps that fall within the bike lane. While the amount of recess can be inconsequential to vehicular traffic, it can be significant for bikes representing obstacles capable of causing a cyclist to crash–especially at night–or damage bike wheels, etc. The identification of these seemed to resonate with the BAC too, as many started to cite similar instances where they’ve had run-ins with the same types of covers.

BFC acknowledged how bike friendly of a community we already live in for this to be the type of safety improvement opportunity it brings to the committee vs. other more significant or major improvements. While there are still major improvement opportunities throughout the city, many are being addressed in the updated Active Modes Plan that is in draft form and due to be adopted in the coming months.

The primary consideration suggested for improving the obstacles these caps create was to develop a process or protocol similar to what the City’s Streets Department does with the FC Moves Department as part of the street resurfacing project protocol, to see if there is opportunity to re-stripe the streets in an improved or more safe manner. Could the idenfication of caps that will end up within the bike lane of the newly resurfaced street be identified in advance so it can be ensured that they get finished flush with the street?

Westbound (WB) Horsetooth Road & College Avenue – This is an intersection that BFC just included for its Intersection/Facility Focus Survey last month (See Survey Results). Given the multiple lanes and high volume of vehiclular traffic through this intersection, it can be understood why the city installed and directs bicyclists onto a shared path in each direction (east and west) upon approach while riding on Horsetooth–despite the most confident of cyclists still wishing they had a thru bike lane. However, given this and how the bike lane facility is the sidewalk at this intersection, BFC shared the difficulty WB Horsetooth bikes and peds can have avoiding WB Horsetooth motorists who are turning north onto College Ave. It presented how, due to the confusing signals and their timing, many motorists appear to ignore (or not see) the “Right Turn Signal” signals and turn on red during the crossing phase for bikes and peds. This subsequently makes bikes or peds susceptible to being right hooked by a right-turning vehicle.

Not knowing the right or a plausible fix, rather than suggest an improvement to be considered for this intersection, BFC posed the following questions to the city and requested they follow up with Traffic Operations to identify the correct solution: Is there opportunity to re-examine signal and crossing phase timing? Should there be a dedicated bike-ped crossing phase? Or, is this a good spot for a “No right on Red”? Finally, could the situation be fixed with better signage targeted at motorists, communicating how must yield to bikes and peds while turning right on red?

We’ll be sure to keep you posted on any improvements or measures that are taken at any of these intersections as a result of presentations like these and/or our continued efforts to generate awareness for the problems/issues at intersections and other facilities, as well as any future presentations we make.

In the meantime, please continue to let us know when (and where) you have unsafe experiences on your bike (or even walking) as a function of the way the road/street is designed, striped, configured, etc. Either submit a comment below or email us at info@bikefortcollins.org.