Mucked up Merge on Milikan Way

[wsbob]

I'm periodically going to the series of 10 pictures of the bike lane at Milikan Way and Rose Biggi that I took, to study the situation, adding new ideas as they occur to me, into the captions. The picasa format limits the number of characters in the captions, so the captions are rather brief.

Made a few revisions and additions today. Photo #8 continues to be the most viewed picture. Today though, I added an idea to picture #9. Take a look and consider it if you get a chance. I'm not suggesting any major change to the infrastructure be made here, but it's something you may find interesting to think about. Link to picture #9:

Mucked up Merge on Milikan Way picture #9

[wsbob]

Got a response today, about the 'bike lane ends' symbol sign, about which I sent an email in regards to, on the 7th of this month. (I of course, am Darrell as noted in the response). Here's the text of that response:

"Hi Darrell,

Thank you for forwarding your comments on the sign placement. We looked at the situation again. Perhaps our landscape crew might trim the branch but I’ll need to take another look to see if it is in the way. The sign and the tree need to remain as they are currently located. Thank you.

Regards,

Margaret "

That's Margaret Middleton, a planner with the City of Beaverton, and also liaison for the city to the Beaverton Bicycle Advisory Committee. Here's the text of my inquiry that led to that response:

You might remember me a year or so ago having come to the BBAC about catch basin and bike lane ends sign on Hall Blvd. Today, I'm providing you with a link to some pics I took on Milikan Way between Cedar Hills Blvd and Watson, about what I think may be a valid concern in different location.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1112590...2t9JG9jMqh3wE#

It's my personal feeling that the sign advising road users that the bike lane is ending...thus requiring cyclists to merge into the main travel lane...is not visible at a sufficient distance from the actual end of the bike lane, so as to allow cyclists using the bike to adequately prepare for a smooth transition into the main travel lane.

If you have a moment, please take a look at the pics and see what you think; whether you think it needs attention.

By the way, on the street, I happened to meet and talk with a city worker. We talked for awhile about this issue. He suggested Mark Boguslawski with Public Works, Engineering, might be interested in this situation. Said Boguslawski rides a bike, so he could actually ride over there and see how the infrastructure with this sign, works in practice. Couldn't find his contact info on the city website. If you think he'd be a good one to show this to, send it his way, or to anyone you think should see it.

Thanks,

Darrell Tuffli "

I responded back today with some additional ideas about the bike lane on Milikan Way across Rose Biggi, and a link to this forum discussion. Ms Middleton doesn't say she and the other staff members took a look at the picture series I provided a link to, but I hope they did. Going out there and riding the bike lane would be a very good way to get an idea of how visible the sign is to cyclists riding in the bike lane.

[wsbob]

I've added pics to the picasa (link in previous post.) web album showing the trees now with spring leaves that even further block the 'bike lane ends' picture sign from what it was during winter when the tree branches were bare.

The city still has not done even as much as trimming a few branches to try correct this problem. Later today, I may post a couple pics from the album, to this thread.