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As requested, here is our (crudely) Photoshopped vision of some possible safety improvements at the now infamous intersection at Octavia and Market.
Would making these changes help the cyclists? See you after the jump.
As you can see by comparing with the photo below, we've added an island where there are just some plastic posts and four white lines together currently. Of course it should be shaped so inbound cyclists and southbound drivers don't run into it. Inbound drivers could still go over and around the island of course, but we think they would be less likely to do so.
Also, we've put a no turn sign on the island so there is no doubt as to the rules at this unusual intersection. The sign post gave us a chance to also hang the "Photo Enforced" warning along with a cite from the Vehicle Code, so everything is nice and legal. What's that, there's no camera looking for illegal turns at this intersection yet? Well, that's something to work on, in'nt? Obviously the sign should be high enough so that nobody's noggin gets a floggin'.
And we've put the remaining posts as they were originally, before they got runned over oh so many times.
And lastly, we've moved one of the white stripes on the crosswalk. Drivers coming back to S.F off the superslab are faced with four white lines that all sort of look like stop lines. Some of the cagers don't know where to stop, so they block peds and/or cyclists by sitting in the wrong place during red lights. Our version shows an obvious bike lane and ped crosswalk, and keeps the stop line that serves as a buffer before the crosswalk.
Pictured above is the intersection as it appeared a few days ago.
So that's it. One problem with simply allowing right turns there is that the daily gridlock created by this whole cockamamie Octavia Boulevard project would immediately appear on Market inbound. It's not like somebody said, "What Hayes Valley and the Lower Haight need more of are idling cars and kaleidoscopes." But it looks like we are stuck with exactly that situation for now.
Drivers wanting to use this onramp need to realize they need to wait their turn on Octavia or Page or Haight or Oak or wherever along with all the other idling vehicles during the morning drive. Of course we applaud all the recent improvements made at this intersection this year so far. But all we can do now is try to make things still better by taking reasonable steps. The sooner the better.
Update: Captain's log, supplemental. Thanks for your comments.
The trouble with coloring the bike lane is that the idea hasn't been tested in the harsh legal environment that is These United States.
Allowing right turns there would be more than a matter of taking down the signs. It would entail a redesign of that area. Then you would have a daily backup on Market inbound with most of the car traffic in the right lane merging into the well-used bike lane, which happens to be going downhill in that area.
We looked for a backup of inbound Haight Street Muni buses on Page between Octavia and Laguna this A.M., but we didn't see it. Maybe we got there too late in the morning.
The vehicle (probably a tall 3-series kind of SUV) in the photo was directed there during it's driver's brief detention for a routine traffic stop. It was not illegally parked.
Those besieged plastic posts are still effective. We've only seen one vehicle making an illegal turn there lately. (Shockingly, it was not an VW+Audi A4. It was an A6 or something similar from the VW C5 or C6 platform). So things are much better than before. We weren't previously aware that the island we called for was in the works. Good. Bring it.
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Improvements definitely need to be made there, but I imagine that poor little sign in the island you've created would get continually run over. It may help to put a short metal guardrail there, starting from where the white plastic posts begin.
This can be done as stage type props.A little wood and a few paper signs and well........
You know what would work real nice would be some colored pavement there. Check out Andy Thornley's article in BeyondChron:
www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4298
I was under the impression that not allowing a right turn here was still a "test," per Matt Gonzalez.
While selfish drivers injure cyclists and pedestrians at this intersection, others cram Haight and Page so that the folks who are civilized enough to take the bus to work get a 10-20 minute delay while the buses are stuck in traffic.
We've sent multiple complaints to MTA and the supes, but nothing has been done, which seems like MTA's policy.
I hear ya, Rob B. I have taken to getting out of the bus once I get to Laguna or so and shaking my fist at the drivers who backing things up on Haight and Page.
=v= As long as you're Photoshopping here, why not fix up the SUV that's illegally parked in the bike lane? I can think of all sorts of improvements.
The wider problem with this intersection is that it's a big open area with long sightlines. Motorists respond to that sort of visual cue by speeding up and not noticing anything smaller than another car. The original design had trees with lush lower canopies.
make additional right lane and make right turn legal as it was originaly designed
The answer on Haight and Page is to make one of these streets transit priority (I suggest Haight), move the wires to make it two way, and make it NO turns at Octavia except to the local traffic service roads. That way the buses can cruise through, and the cars can wait at the other street.
And, guys, it's just stupid to get angry at auto drivers who look for the most rational way to get on the freeway (to where, I may add, the JOBS are, thanks to dumbass anti-business thinking by SF leaders). Better to improve the design of the area to prevent problems from happening.
something that people aren't really paying attention to, either, is that people consistently make illegal right hand turns off of the freeway onto market. i work in the neighborhood and i'm sort of just waiting to see where i'll get hit first.
Here is what they need to use as "soft hit" posts.
As seen on Skyline Blvd at Skyridge...
www.murphstahoe.com/skyline/entry.jpg
www.murphstahoe.com/skyline/bike.jpg
www.murphstahoe.com/skyline/side.jpg
I ride a bike. I ride a motorcycle. I drive a cab. I have never seen a bicycle in the aforementioned intersection between 2 and 5 am. Maybe an occasional cycle may pass through but I've never seen one. At those hours the Central Freeway is the most practical route to downtown/SOMA. The freeway uses less gas, has a smaller carbon footprint, and funnels vehicles away from the pedestrian/ late night crowd near the Civic Center. Be practical. Don't build an island. Install cameras and let vehicles turn right at designated off peak hours.
to max-- there were extensive studies done, very late in the game; one agency (of dozens) that suggested having a right turn pocket for the freeway onramp.
please see the first comment on this post (type key restriction will force me to resubmit with the first portion of the url:)
www.sfist.com/archives/2007/01/26/octavia_blvd_protest_support_for_injured_cyclist.php
The convenience of the motorist might be rational, but then most traffic restrictions are rational, but inconvenient - and avoiding injury and death (for cyclists) to spare inconvenience (for the motorist) is a small price.
You said:
That's not actually true. Colored bike lanes in intersections are used with much success in Portland, OR -- which is, contrary to popular belief, actually a part of the United States.
If there were really an issue here, it could be the city's legal moratorium on constructing new bicycle facilities, pending the resolution of the environmental impact report/lawsuit thingy.