Boulevard Octavia Revisited

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.