are an issue in Boston too.
(File photo)
Streetsblog pointed out an interesting article in the Boston Globe yesterday about a very familiar situation with one of their urban multi-use paths.
The Minuteman Path near downtown Boston is popular with all types of users and has gotten so crowded (2 million people a year according to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy) that there has been an increased amount of collisions and complaints reported.
From the article:
“Police have been called out so often to resolve angry, and sometimes bizarre, disputes that they have coined a new term. “We have road rage,” said Arlington Police Chief Fred Ryan. “And now we have bikeway rage.””
Sound familiar?
Portland has long faced a similar problem with the Eastbank Esplanade and Waterfront paths. In fact, over a year ago, I wrote a story titled, “Cyclists must use more caution on popular paths.”
A growing awareness of this issue has sparked official concern from PDOT. They recognized that something must be done to manage the popularity of multi-use paths so they took a proactive approach.
On July 19th — as a special “field trip edition” of their monthly Bicycle Brown Bag series — they’ll host a ride to the Esplanade to discuss what can be done about the issue.
Cyclists riding too fast and a lack of courtesy are definitely part of the problem. But that’s not the only thing at work here.
We’ve let motorized vehicles run amok for far too long and now we’re seeing the result: a huge demand for car-free places.
More education is needed, but let’s not forget that the best way to solve this “problem” is to open up more non-motorized corridors. Also, some cyclists would not use these paths if they felt safe riding on the street (which many don’t).
The people aren’t the problem. We just need more safe, quiet, and clean spaces to recreate and move around the city.
The worst crash I ever had on my bike was on a multi-use path where I came around a blind corner and was greeted by a roller blader in my lane. All I had time to do was to lower my shoulder into his chest. Neither one of us was hurt seriously (I received some scrapes and my back was sore for a week or so), but I sure remember that incident!
Unless it\’s a time of day where traffic on the path is light, I\’d rather take my chances in the street with the cars. Most of the time cars are reasonably predictable, especially when compared to small children on the path.
So my two cents based just on my personal experience both here and in Albuquerque is that everyone who uses multi-use paths needs to be more aware of what is going on around them and to have a courtesy first attitude instead of just thinking about themselves.
I will admit that sometimes when I am out riding a path I get caught up in doing my own thing and have had some close calls with pedestrians or other cyclists. But I try to stay aware that these paths exist for everyone to use.
On a side note, when I lived down in Albuquerque I had several run-ins with both kids and adults on dirt bikes, and that is NEVER acceptable on a multi-use path.
They could (and should) put in more multi-use paths, but few of them would be as lovely as the esplanade on a spring afternoon…
I wish people who pass would call out more, so that the people they\’re passing know that they\’re there. That would help it be safer.
Also, if people would just slow down a little… The way that we\’re upset at drivers causing fatal accidents because they\’re too impatient to wait for a safe passing spot should apply to bikes, too. I don\’t know how many times I\’ve had someone riding full-speed toward me on my side of the path on the esplanade as they pass a jogger or someone else. Just slow down and wait for a safe place to go around, instead of riding into head-on traffic at top speed.
This is especially important because of the number of children and elderly people on these multi-use paths.
Really, it\’s mostly just common sense. We should all drive/ride/walk with our heads, instead of our emotions. Getting somewhere a couple minutes faster isn\’t worth risking the safety of those around you.
The Minuteman Path actually starts about 3 miles outside of downtown Boston in the town of Arlington and runs through mostly low-density suburbs. I\’ve lived in the Boston area for 17 years and have not heard much complaining about conflicts along the urban multi-use paths that line the Charles River in Boston and Cambridge, which are more nearly equivalent to the riverfront paths in Portland. However, I\’ve heard several reports of conflicts along the Minuteman over the last few years. It seems like a large number of suburban users are funneled onto the Minuteman because there are few alternative paths nearby.
I ride the Esplanade every day to work. Between you and me, I dread the sunny months because of the the novices on the path and all the other roller bladers and large families casually strolling along.
THAT SAID, it\’s great that they are using the path and enjoying an activity that does not require internal combustion.
A little more signage would go a long way. An effort to get bikers to slow down would be worthwhile. Lots of fitness cyclists consider the Esplanade an extension of the Springwater Corridor and try to keep their target heart rates and miles per hour up to the same level the through this busy, pedestrian heavy area. They need to just cool it when the path is full.
-Ian
And better pathway design too…
– use of surface colour, texture and grade to separate flows and modes where needed (conflict areas like bends, intersections, decision points, slopes, etc.)
– add width to pathway where needed as traffic stops (decision points, intersections, slopes with turns, map kiosk, etc.)
– design for new era of design vehicles (roller bladers need wider paths, bike trailers/ tag alongs need wider turn areas, use gateways and less bollards for vehicle deterence)
– differentuate/ segragate by mode intersection ramps and crosswalks (bike crosswalk and pedestrian crosswalk)
– provide parallel routes with enhanced crossings for fast commute traffic
– ration space when facility becomes unsafe or problematic (remove cars from roadway, convert roadway into pathway and move bikes from trail to new pathway)
– educate pedestrians to walk against bike flow and keep pets on tight lead, bikes to have lights/ bells
– install bike traffic calming where needed
– reduce motorized vehicle speeds near trails and trail crossings
The yellow striping at path from OMSI to Sellwood actually seems to do nice job of keeping \”traffic\” manageable, but it sure is ugly. My biggest multi-use path hassle is Leif Erickson Road on my way home. It seems as though on sunny weekends in the summer every novice MTBer is out there trying to see how fast he can come around the corners (of course he is going downhill and he had to drive his bike up Thurman St. P***y!) and I am about fed up with people not having their dogs at least under voice-control. I can\’t wait for the rain to come back.
The Columbian (the daily paper north of Portland) will be writing about trail design and user behavior along the Burnt Bridge Creek trail on 11 July. (Kelly Adams reporting)
http://www.columbian.com/
For those of you who want to check this trail out over the holiday go to:
http://www.cityofvancouver.us/parks-recreation/parks_trails/trails/burntbridge_trail.htm
It is the green spine of Vancouver.
For the trail wonks: A nice example of the range of trail design standards over the last 30 years (west = old and east = new).
Common sense and awareness of traffic conditions / hazards should be enough to keep the paths safe. However, not everyone has common sense and or awareness. I\’ve witnessed cyclists calling \”on your left\” actually pass pedestrians on the right and I\’ve seen pedestrians step left when hearing the same call.
Also, unleashed dogs on the Springwater Trail are extremely unsafe. Recently, on quiet morning, a Labrador-mix darted out from the tall grass directly in front of me. I had no time to react and t-boned the dog in the ribcage causing the dog to rollover. The dog yelped and limped back to his jogging owner…who yelled \”sorry\” without even stopping or turning around to see if his dog or I were okay. I managed to stay upright, no damage other than a slightly bent front rim. I was tempted to confront the owner but the vet bill may teach him a lesson.
Riding the esplanade is a real test of skill.
Traffic is somewhat predictable, but people walking… they\’re just retarded.
They\’re all like little kids… \”OOOH SHINEY!\” they turn from one side of the path and cross to the other without even looking.
I\’ve almost hit many people and I was going at a moderate speed.
they need to have more \”multi-use path\” signs, that way the peds remember that they\’re not the only ones using the path and keep aware.. and keep the effin\’ ipod out of their ears.
I would love to see more paths like spring water. I do feel safe riding on the road (save the occasional un-nerving moment) but I still enjoy using spring water because it\’s pretty, and it lacks that all important factor: cars.
I feel like Portland would be a better place if there were more paths like this, that not only feel safer to ride on but also GO somewhere. I love Mt.tabor; I go there regularly. It\’s a great place to go for fun and exercise; but it lacks the usefulness of the esplanades. I\’d like to see more combined parks and paths.
My experience is the paths are more dangerous than the roads. I\’m happy to stay off the paths and leave them to the baby strollers/ family riders/walkers/runners/drunk homeless guys on bikes/rollerbladers etc. The roads are safer when they confine themselves to the paths, and on the paths they have a more pleasant experience than being on the roads.
We bicyclists just need to be slow and cautious around pedestrians, like on the Esplanade. Maybe posting speed limit signs with a bicycle graphic, reminding us to keep it down on these heavily used routes would help. I like seeing people out walking, because its what make this city great, having beautiful places to stroll and ride. Save the speeding when you are away from others.
Definately the best time to use the esplanade is in the dreary wet days of winter. Too many suv\’s and suburbanites are seen unloading their family bikes and strollers on the weekends of the nicer months. Keeping to the streets, or farther out on the corridor is too scary and far for the above mentioned.
There is a very dangerous blind curve on an old Hawthorne Bridge off-ramp. I have had an actual accident and several close calls there.
On the westbound mixed use walkway, at the end of the bridge, is a right turn that takes you down toward the old McCall restaurant. The last half of this path is narrow, curved, downhill, and blind. Due to the curve, a bike will tend to the left, effectively filling the entire walkway. Here it is very easy to go too fast and encounter a pedestrian. Neither party could have an adequate way out of a collision.
In my accident, a bike was following me too close. When I suddenly slowed down, he could not react fast enough, grazed me and crashed with some bike damage and skin abrasions.
Sounds like you were going too fast M.#15 as was your running mate.
My thoughts,
#2 above mentioned calling out when passing. I used to do this, but have found that way too many people when they hear \”on your left\” actually step left and turn around, or just turn around, see you, and then run infront of you like a scared squirrel, that and the shear amount of people makes calling out pretty hard to do. I\’m not even going to mention the I-Pods. What I think we need is signage reminding EVERYONE that it is a shared path, all users need to be careful, stay to the Right except when passing and to be more aware. I know the stay to the right is a pipe dream since it doesn\’t even happen on the road, but that is for a different forum.
This reminds me of a presentation I saw on biking in Japan, the sidewalks there make our paths look vacant, and they have twice as many bikes mixed in, but it seems to work, because people are aware, pedestrians know to hold their line and bikes will ride around them. It\’ll take time here, but it will work itself out. Pedestrians will get used to bikes and bikes to peds, and we\’ll all get along.
Atleast it sounds like a nice dream….
I would love advice from more experienced cyclists on this, but I think that one of the key notions is going single file whenever any traffic is coming toward. If cyclists and pedestrians would do this one simple thing, it would start toward reducing accidents and close ones.
A second duh idea is to keep to the right except when passing. I come down the Esplanade and suddenly confront walkers to their far left, my right, and I just wonder what is up in their minds.
Whoever noted that some just cross the path without looking–it\’s unbelievable and true. I\’ve had some narrow ones with those who do that. Even shifting in the path ought to be preceded by a glance to see who might be coming up from behind. I am a geezer who is passed constantly by young ones and I don\’t hear so well any more, so I guess I tend to do that more, but I think all peds and cyclists could develop that habit and save grief.
Lots of good observations and suggestions above. The one that resonates most with me is \”slow down, use common sense, be polite.\”
I\’d like to point out that we all have the opportunity to educate one another, gently, when walking and riding on paths (and this is something the PDOT Brown Bag lunch will cover – how to teach others good path habits).
When I encounter a gaggle of walkers inexplicably walking on the left side, i.e. coming straight for me, I slow down to a standstill if necessary to avoid riding around them on the left. I\’m not rude about it or pushy – if I end up standing stock still and they walk around me, to continue their weird British walking habits, fine, I\’m not going to fight them on it. But that never happens. Normally they reorganize and move over and I say \”Thanks!\”, and sometimes they say \”Sorry\”.
If I get passed too close by a fast moving cyclist, I say \”Please ring your bell next time!\”
If a slower cyclist (there aren\’t many slower than me, but there are a few) or a walker is crossing the Hawthorne Bridge and hanging out in the absolute leftmost lane (as is somewhat suggested by the pavement markings, for the cyclist), instead of passing on their right side, I gently ding my bell and ask to pass on the left til they move over. It\’s not their fault – but I still want to do things the sensible way.
And so on. I think we can establish some norms of behavior on these paths and teach them to one another without being too obnoxious about it. At least, I hope we can – because pavement markings and signs can only get us so far. Culture has to do the rest.
If you have other passing and educating suggestions for paths, please share them with me – after PDOT\’s Brown Bag, the BTA is doing a joint educational action on Saturday, July 21st, and I\’d love more ideas! I\’ll also need some volunteers to help, so if this is an issue you care about also let me know. Email me at michelle[at]bta4bikes[dot]org.
Bikes and peds – two great tastes that go together like anchovies and chocolate.
Glad to see the dialogue unfold, and I will add just my two bits – become aware of your perspective.
As cyclists, we tend to become stuck in our perception that a nicely paved, flattish, car free environment is our highway, or our arterial, a transportation corridor. We\’re getting somewhere else.
Taking on a pedestrian\’s perspective, the Esplanade is a park, a great place to take in a variety of views. A pedestrian may use it to get from A to B, or may walk just to be here now.
The dynamic tension of the Esplanade and other shared paths is that they are both things – roads and parks. The Carfree movement reminds us that when we turn streets into nothing more than transportation corridors, we give up a lot of public space to the vehicle. This is true of shared paths too. The vehicle is an important part of life, but it is not the reason for living. I would posit that appreciation of beauty is the reason for living.
Could cyclists come to see the meanderings of pedestrians on paths along the same lines as a sympathetic driver sees the stately procession of a Move By Bike? Can fast cyclists come to see the pokey progress of a slow one as a chance to relax and notice the beauty around?
I think #20 makes some great points. People are walking as a form of recreation. They\’re enjoying a sense of being free and unencumbered and safe. They\’re usually aware that there are bikes or joggers or skaters or whatever else, but not constantly aware, and when a bike approaches, it\’s sometimes at a rate that makes them aware of your presence only at the last minute.
This may be inconvenient for bike commuters, just as bikes are inconvenient for cars, but that\’s really just too bad. If you can\’t predict the behavior of pedestrians in your path, you\’re going too fast.
Faster-moving traffic should yield to slower-moving traffic. Cars should have to yield to bikes, bikes should have to yield to pedestrians, power-walkers should have to yield to old ladies on crutches. Safety trumps speed. If that principle seems too onerous, you can always take the streets instead of shared-use paths.
It helps to understand that multi-use paths are shared paths, and that in the sharing safety in incumbent on all users of a path and not just on a particular subset of users. No one can be truly safe if everyone in close proximity is oblivious to the consequences of their actions.
While riding on the Springwater Trail I\’ve encountered approaching pedestrians, joggers, and roller bladers traveling in groups three abreast–and none of them willing to give an inch–taking as much as 4/5ths of the path width for themselves. There\’s barely room to squeeze by them; safe it is not.
Unleashed dogs and dogs on long leashes present other safety hazards. The owners of these wayward animals (not to mention the parents of wayward children) bear the responsibility of controlling them.
It seems that standard rules of the road should apply to multi-use paths, too. Travel on the right, as close to the right as possible. Pass slower traffic only when it\’s safe to do so.
You\’re entitled to half of the pathway, but you\’re not entitled to take your half out of the middle.
in Minneapolis i rode a lot of multi-use paths with elaborate striping and icon-stamping and marking in order to define which side was for pedestrians and which side was for bikes. it didn\’t work — pedestrians just don\’t think that way. When you\’re walking around or just milling about, you\’re not watching the road for stripes.
i believe that as the paths get crowded, everybody will get more aware, but that\’ll probably only balance out the problems of congestion. For bicyclists, bike/ped paths will only ever be for relaxed, meandering travel — recreational biking. I love them, but they\’re not so good for commuting, delivery or the other kinds of biking that we\’re trying to encourage.
Meanwhile: ring that bell!
car:bike::bike:pedestrian
Have some respect. Slow down. If you want to go fast, get on the street.
I grew up riding on the Minuteman Trail, remember when it opened, and even worked at the bike shop on the West end of the trail through middle school. That path has become a real zoo and things can get tense.
To generalize, the supercommuters and skinnyroadies are the Hummers and Escalades of the bike path…total assholes. If they have to touch their brakes, they\’re instantly pissed. Just as fast-moving cars belong on freeways, fast-moving bikes belong on streets.
The Minuteman, with its easy grade and direct access to masstransit, is an awesome commuter bikeway, but when the weekend and summer evenings roll around, bicyclists need to learn to be patient or go elsewhere. Same in Portland.
Last night, my friends and I rode on the Esplanade, and I was surprised that we were able to get through. I fully expected to have to walk the whole way, but most of the fireworks watchers situated themselves out of traffic, and the traffic was remarkable light for so many people around. We rode super slow, as was appropriate for the time. Sometimes, it all just works!
Yet another path conflict issue, this time in Tiburon, California (news article here. There is such tremendous pent-up demand for car-free places, and I hope these emerging stories about path conflicts doesn\’t turn it into a bikes vs. walkers issue. The truth is we just need to build LOTS more car-free and low-traffic places!
Last year I rode the esplanade from Hawthorne to Morrison on the 4th. It was very slow going, but I was surprised to not get any \”get off your bike\” comments.