(Photo: Kiel Johnson)
Ask Portland bike advocates, planners, or city staff what our best example of a high-quality bikeway is and many of them might say the SW Moody cycle track. That’s why we were so disappointed when photos appeared on Twitter yesterday showing large delivery trucks parking on it.
SW Moody is the main artery between the burgeoning South Waterfront district and downtown Portland. Its cycle track opened three years ago (read my first impressions here) and was funded through a $23 million federal stimulus grant that also paid for a reconstruction of the street to facilitate a streetcar and light rail line that connect to the new Tilikum Bridge.
A new mixed-use development on SW Moody includes several ground-level retail businesses including a bakery and a deli. According to people who ride the route regularly, it’s common to see delivery trucks using the cycle track to load and unload.
Yesterday, Kiel Johnson, owner of the Go By Bike valet service and bike shop under the Portland Aerial Tram, posted this to Twitter
What cycle track? @PBOTinfo @BikePortland pic.twitter.com/36e6Tc2A18
— Kiel By Bike (@kiel_by_bike) December 3, 2014
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In response, another picture emerged from Flickr user zakschwank:
PBOT has taken note of the tweets. Agency spokeswoman Diane Dulken said in a telephone interview this morning that, “It is a safety issue.” Dulken added that it’s also a violation of city code (16.20.130) and City of Portland parking enforcement officers will respond to the area once a report has been made.
The city hotline for parking violations is 823-5195 and Dulken urges everyone to call that number to report this type of behavior.
Dulken also said that this could also simply be an “awareness issue.” “The truck drivers might not know it’s not a loading zone,” she said. On that note, Dulken added that staff from PBOT’s Active Transportation Division will visit the business owners to do some educational outreach.
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As an aside, during my time in Copenhagen last year I noticed trucks would sometimes block cycle tracks. I was fascinated at how people on bikes didn’t seem to care much. They would just roll off the cycle track, go around the truck, and keep on riding (often without even putting their phone down!); or simply stop and wait for the unloading to finish. This “no big whoop” attitude in Copenhagen was in stark contrast to the anger with which many American riders react.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)
I’ve come to realize the difference in response is that here in the U.S., this type of thing is like the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It’s just one more sign of disrespect and potential danger along a route that is likely full of several others — and therefore the angry response is from the cumulative impact of other frustrations. Whereas in Copenhagen, when a truck blocks the cycle track, it’s just a tiny blip on an otherwise perfectly calm and pleasant bicycle journey and therefore there’s no built-up stress looking for an outlet.
Thanks for reading.
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Nice truck you got there–be a shame if ***portion of comment deleted. I’d rather you didn’t encourage vandalism and other illegal acts in this manner. sorry Dave. — Jonathan***
Vandalism might be *your* thing, but it’s certainly not the right thing to do.
i have absolutely no problem with this type of “vandalism”. the criminalization of graffiti in portland is bovine feces. when i see a building, bill board, bike lane or sign tagged it often makes me smile.
So, in addition to recommending civil disobedience by bicyclists are you recommend vandalism, too, or am I misreading your comment?
They say “diversity of tactics” for a reason.
So, Todd are you, Dave, and Hart advocating vandalism? Or is your “diversity of tactics” based on advocating for more enforcement, driver education, and a change in the city code and state law?
You’re misreading my comment. I’m advocating apathy, cynicism, and ambivalence.
“I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t let you post that.”
But Hart can.
…nice movie reference to the HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_9000
These fed ex drivers and UPS drivers fly down side streets and bike routes as well. They are a hazard due to their business model. The drivers are busted raw driving around and must speed to meet quotas. Parking in a bike lane is probably not on their radar- they want to deliver a package.
Obviously, there needs to be better regulation of the work load of these individuals. Smaller electric trucks. More employees. Less profit, better pay (sorry). But we can find a way to restrict these huge bulldozers.
Actually, I find the FedEx and UPS drivers to be more courteous driving near cyclists than many auto drivers.
I’ve never had occasion to call to complain about FedEx or UPS drivers. I HAVE called about TriMet, Portland Water Bureau, and some independent operators. Your experience may be different.
Have you called their operations offices or public affairs to complain? What was their response? My best ever response was from a Portland Water Bureau supervisor.
I live by a bike route that has constant traffic from delivery drivers. And they drive quickly. Most of the time I can’t catch numbers by running outside to report anyone; one just sees the truck flying by way too quickly. I suspect not reporting a specific violation to their offices wouldn’t help much.
On an aside, I’ve not really noticed trimet or the water bureau being discourteous. At least not on the level of delivery drivers.
What route?
Tillamook.
The whole South Waterfront is a pilot project for the future of transportation in Portland. The Cascade Policy Institute folks have keyed into it because of what it means if it succeeds: that we can make a place easier to get to while (and *by*) making it less convenient to drive there. I think you’re right about why people get so mad. They realize what’s at stake and want this experiment to succeed. Copenhagen is past the pilot phase.
The difference between here and Copenhagen is that it’s a lot more dangerous to go around a truck blocking the bike path here, mixing into and back out of American traffic, than it is to do the same thing in Danish traffic.
Just worth repeating.
Also in Copenhagen if a bicycle rider has to serve in to the street they have a much lower expectation of injury or death. The whole roadyway is safe.
In the Good Ole US of A these delivery drivers are blocking the one and only EXTREMELY RARE bit of bicycle infrastructure that is safe. The delivery driver is trading my life for his convenience.
THIS is the source of our rage.
SwiftKey my nemesis!
I find THIS worth repeating:
“during my time in Copenhagen last year I noticed trucks would sometimes block cycle tracks. I was fascinated at how people on bikes didn’t seem to care much. They would just roll off the cycle track, go around the truck, and keep on riding”
I sure wish this was the case here. We could all stand to be a lot more mellow about this stuff. Yes, bikes belong but we don’t have to be complaining and single minded about it. Look at what all the complaining did to Williams. Not many people seemed too thrilled with the new plan. Yes, in America, it is a bit harrier, possibly, to ride around something but, it can still be done. Maybe you have to stop and signal. Maybe you have to (bravely?) force yourself out in the roadway. Maybe there are no cars coming at all. In 20 years of riding around Portland, I have really never found a bike lane blockage to be that much of a threat. Annoying? yes. But, we’ve all got places to go and things to do. I guess I’m just more “interested” than “concerned”. ok, you’re free to slay me now. 🙂
Part of this is the different status of the emotional status quo: in the DK the status quo is bicycling so a delivery truck blocking the bike track is not seen as a threat but here bicycling in not the status quo and instead still a pitched battle that the outcome is unknown. The struggle of the establishment of these facilities is still fresh vs in more established bike centric cities…all it takes in Portland is a block or two of merchants (or homeowners parking cars on the street but fearing new apartment dwellers doing the same) to make the City leadership reverse course on decades old policies or new bikeways.
And I am not saying there were no emotions at hand back when the grandparents and parents of todays bicyclists in the DK or NL protested in the street the then auto centric status quo…just look up the Dutch Provos. But the memory of the struggle is absent from many when one asks a bicyclist on the street in the NL how they got there or their confusion as to why their situation should be studied by you.
In the U.S., cyclists are fighting for scraps—scraps of the roadway, scraps of law, scraps of dignified treatment by authorities—scraps. Then someone comes along and eats your scraps. Complicating this specific scenario, this is a two-way cycle track, with physical separation from the roadway. No way to merge into the street to go around, and moving to the sidewalk creates a “wrong-way” situation for one direction, and a hazard for both directions, not to mention drawing the ire of pedestrians for riding on the “sidewalk”, which is the only place a cyclist could go to get around this blockage.
IMO, this is THE major drawback to “protected” cycle tracks; it’s nice to be put in a cage that protects you from the roving cats, but when a cat (or anything else) gets in the cage, you can’t just fly up into a tree to get away, you’re stuck.
Why do they say they will respond when a report is made-they have photographic evidence of a crime, why can’t they respond based on that?
Photoshop.
OMG that thought process could apply to so many moving violations.
But “don’t take our jerbs!”
hmmm… I wonder how many people wouldn’t be killed by police if police never responded to traffic violations, like, it was all done electronically?
Heck, you could do it like a Captcha “am I a human?” test: to prove you are human you have to look at video and determine if a violation occurred and who may be at fault. Iterate each incident past >100 viewers and then forward the results to cops on desk duty or even retired police who don’t mind a part time job at home.
A bollard on the centerline of the cycletrack would do it, though it’s slightly inconvenient to pedalers. (Maybe a lighted one for wet winter nights.) Bollards are cheap and don’t require a cop at hand or a court trip to present photographic evidence.
The culture of hurry, as noted in another comment, certainly contributes to delivery driver behavior–but so does the culture of entitlement with which motorists have been indoctrinated in the US. That’s another difference with Denmark.
The 2nd Ave cycle track in Seattle has center bollards at every intersection – They are simply run over by delivery trucks and other confused motorists on a regular basis.
The only thing that stops repeat bikelane parkers is ****portion of comment deleted. please do not encourage acts of property damage. thanks — Jonathan ****
“truck drivers might not know it’s not a loading zone”
I get the impression that not every bollard is constructed to the same standard.
http://www.wirelessestimator.com/wifi/images/uploads/Bollards_3.jpg
Please don’t support that Seattle 2nd Ave. cluster#$%^ as a good example of anything–it’s a scary little too-narrow bike ghetto with many driveway crossings.
property is a crime.
So you’re willing to share your personal bike with everyone, then?
i’d definitely support creating a bike share program that isn’t restricted to boujie inner PDX via income redistribution!
Just say NO to bollards in the center of multi-use paths and cycle tracks. Although they used to be routinely accepted and even encouraged, they’re a hazard that almost always cause an injury when hit. If ground mounted signage on the side of the path coupled w/enforcement doesn’t work, in this location I might suggest an overhead, cantilevered sign mounted about 9.5ft high, but only as a last resort.
Even in Europe, bollards or not, people try to drive where they aren’t allowed.
Great video driving home that point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELpd43PMvk
“this could…be simply an awareness issue,” really? Does she suppose that truck drivers see the enormous green strips and bicycle symbols and think “wow how nice of the city to make me my own loading zone right here on this nice cycle track?
i was going to say the same thing. The truck is parked directly on a bike symbol!
I just saved that CoP number in my phone. I’m going to start reporting these all over the place. The squeaky wheel gets the grease!
I report stuff like this all the time. I call the number. I have an app the city made on my iPhone. I just never know how fast someone sees my digital transmission via the app, or listens to the info I leave on the automated line I call. Then someone has to actually get to where the report is made from. Then the offending vehicle is likely gone.
Parking enforcement isn’t a priority in almost any part of the city you look at. Look out your window now. If you’re on a residential street you see cars on sidewalks or facing traffic the wrong way. If you’re downtown you see cars parked in loading zones. Etc. Etc.
The weird thing is that parking enforcement is a MONEY-MAKER for the city. They should contract it out to a private company if they don’t have enough staff to enforce it.
I went into the offices where the parking folks are at. I said just that. If a ticket is 50 bucks a pop (is it? i dunno) how much money is on the block you’re on right now? Get serious about enforcement. No budging. Parking is the *easiest* part of driving.
Hmm, parking fines are listed here:
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/493867
No parking zone is $80, cycle zone $50, for instance.
Someone needs to clean up the “menu” and update and rationalize some of these fines. This discussion is a prime example: why is blocking a bike lane etc. = $80 fine but a “cycles only” facility $50? There are others.
Seems like a bike lane should be equivalent to a No Parking Zone.
Plenty of room on the other side of Moody for bike lanes.
One concern on CoP’s enforcement strategy here: most of these delivery trucks are making quick stops. The odds of a responding civil servant getting there before the offender leaves is slim to none.
There NEEDS to be an officer stationed down there as a sting (just like is perfectly ethical and legal in Ladds Circle) writing off these tickets for the act of entering the cycle track with a motor vehicle. A moving violation carries a little more weight than a parking ticket especially for commercial license holders.
If you really want to stop this have City of Portland tell the local delivery companies it is illegal, they will be issuing maximum fine citations and plan on each incident taking up at least 30-60 minutes to resolve. The tickets and fines may only apply to the driver but these delivery companies (especially FedEx & UPS) live and breath by seconds wasted. If you promise to destroy their on time delivery for a truck load of customers you can expect this will be clamped down on internally and brutally.
how about guerilla tire locks?
“DON’T PARK HERE” “HAHA NOW YOU CAN’T DRIVE AWAY”
it’s amusing that jonathan censors comments about graffiti (which is not even a misdemeanor in portland) but allows a comment about illegal booting of vehicles to persist.
An easy way for us “real world” people to stop this from happening is to take quick action by taking a picture of the license plate # and truck number then tweeting it to that companies twitter account as well as calling that companies customer service line (I.e FedEx and it looks like Red Hook) and making a complaint directly to their CS department.
believe me those drivers will hear about it ASAP! and will not do it again.
I also encourage everyone to do the same any time you see any company vehicles do anything illegal!
Like the other day I watched a food delivery service truck darting in and out of all 3 lanes all the way up Broadway from the bridge to Broadway Hill he changed lanes darting in and out of traffic at least twice between every block.
I caught up to him on my bike at about every other light, I noted his plate# truck number and description of the driver and called the number on the truck for “call us for quick delivery” and let them know how dangerous that driver was driving…
I caught up to him (again) just before Broadway hill and noticed he was on his phone getting chewed out (it was obvious)
and then watched as he drove the speed limit as he crossed over to go up Terwilliger using his turn signals and driving obviously much slower and responsibly.
Question: If the delivery vehicle parked in the bike lane/cycle track happened to be one of these:
http://www.cyclorama.net/images/articleImages/types_of_bike/h_load_carrying/load_trike.jpg
would it be considered a violation of the law? And would most cyclists complain or even care?
Yes, of course. That crossing in front of Lovejoy Bakery there in the photo is an off-street loading zone. Whether you’re in a truck or a cargo bike, you can pull up just 10 feet and use the loading zone. It’s so little time saved by parking in the roadway.
No violation.. it’s not a MOTOR vehicle…
crap man, that’s been going on for about 4 years on Moody avenue…if its not a cargo truck, its a survey truck, or electricians truck, or a water bureau truck, or a trimet vehicle, or a landscapers truck…
Yeah, those pesky robot trucks driving themselves into bike lanes. I think you meant to say truck driver.
Hey folks,
I’ve edited one comment and deleted another because they were advocating for acts of vandalism. Please don’t use these comments to encourage illegal behavior like that. Thanks for understanding.
Can you also fix the headline where it sounds like the trucks are diving themselves into the bike lane?
Labels, man! 😉
Inconsiderate scoff law self-driving trucks! Next on Sick Sad World!
yes. done.
But entire articles dedicated to civil disobedience are just fine?
Seriously?
yes.
it’s all about context and tone and style.
i’m happy to review a specific passage from that article if you can point it out to me.
thanks.
But how does that city ordinance fit with the state law allowing vehicles to stop in a bike lane or path. Stopping, standing or parking in a bicycle lane or path are prohibited under ORS 811.550(23) and (34), but exceptions to that prohibition under ORS 811.560(3) include loading or unloading property. It kinda looks like that truck there might be legally parked under Oregon law. The illegal part might be the driving on the cycle track before stopping.
Oops… 811.550(24) is the second provision, not (34).
I wondered about the legality issue too PdxMark.
Unfortunately, like many bicycle-related laws, it’s kind of murky.
This is a cycle track… But there are no ORS that define cycle track. So, is is a “bicycle path” (which is more like a “trail” like the esplanade separated from the highway) or is a “bicycle lane”?
Either way, the City Parking Enforcement officer can give the trucker a ticket for violating city code. City code has no exemption for loading/unloading like the ORS does.
And I would love to debate in court if someone tried to say that ORS allows a truck to park in a situation like this. The bike lane loading exemption exists because a bicycle operator can easily go around the truck by using the adjacent lane. But in this case, the truck effectively blocks the entire roadway (bikeway), so it is absolutely 100% illegal.
I’m not sure the city can make illegal something that’s explicitly legal under state law, but I don’t have actual authority on that. I did find though that the definition of Bicycle Path was deleted from city ordinance, but it looks like a cycle track fits the definition of “Bikeway, Off-Street Path.”
16.90.035 Bicycle Path.
(Repealed by Ordinance No. 177028, effective December 14, 2002.)
16.90.038 Bikeway, Off-Street Path.
(Added by Ordinance No. 177028, effective December 14, 2002.) An off-street path for the movement of persons riding bicycles that is physically separated from motorized vehicular traffic by an open space or barrier and either within a street right-of-way, but not in the roadway, or within an independent right-of-way or dedicated easement.
I think the difference lies in the difference between an action being a legal right versus an action being not illegal.
So, for instance, if Oregon had a state law that said all persons shall be allowed to park in bicycle lanes and Portland passed an ordinance that said no person shall be allowed to park in bicycle lanes, the local ordinance infringes on the legally established right of the people under state law.
However, here, Oregon state law says that no person shall park on a bicycle lane or path UNLESS they are momentarily loading or unloading goods and the city of Portland has an ordinance that essentially says that the City of Portland agrees that no person shall park on a bicycle lane or path at all and we so much agree on that point that we won’t even provide the exception for loading or unloading goods.
A city ordinance can’t be more restrictive of rights than a state law, but it can certainly be less loose in terms of exemptions.
To close the preemption loop: When a local ordinance is facially incompatible with or directly contradicts a state law in an area of substantive policy, the state law will displace the local ordinance. City of LaGrande v. PERB, 281 Or. at 149, 576 P.2d 1204.
Well, it’s not legal to park on a Sidewalk, at all. And that truck is also partially blocking the sidewalk.
IIRC, sidewalk parking is illegal and the fine is $80.
Hmmm.. but is a cycle track a bicycle lane or a bicycle path? Under ORS 811.435, a motor vehicle cannot operate in a bicycle lane or a bicycle path. As a bicycle lane, the exemption under ORS 811.440 probably allows the vehicle to be there. If a cycle track is a bicycle PATH, it looks like the truck can’t be there in the first place…
Perhaps future case law will state: The intent of a cycle track with a vertical curb between it and the motor vehicle travel lane/ parking lane is similar to the separation of an off street path for purposes of protection thus the loading should not occur in the cycle track. Additionally the existence of a curb also makes it hazardous if not impossible for most cyclists to detour around the loading vehicle and into the street or illegally onto the sidewalk.
I wonder how much of this will be alleviated once the new transit bridge opens up. Then there should be a LOT more cyclists coming through. How many people even bike down that way right now as opposed to the thousands who take Hawthorne?
OK. Here’s my current conclusion. The ORS 811.440 exemption that allows a delivery truck to stop in a bike LANE does not apply to a bike PATH. The cycle track fits the definition of “Bikeway, Off-Street Path” under city ordinance 16.90.038, which makes the cycle track a bike PATH. Without the exemption under ORS 811.440, the truck on the cycle track is in violation of ORS 811.435, a Class B traffic violation, which is a $260 ticket under 153.019. That worse than a parking ticket…
Which seems to be subject to the private citizen enforcement procedures:
http://bikeportland.org/2008/06/25/lawyer-creates-diy-toolkit-for-citizen-prosecutions-8003
Legal or not, it’s a temporary nuisance. I’d just ride around it.
Amen.
All these excuses, and so much anger on the roads from ALL (yeah I’m probably talking about you) the users gets annoying. You can claim that we aren’t Copenhagen all you want, but using that as an excuse isn’t going to make it happen here. You want that type of road experience here, then start riding/driving that way. It really is that simple, and in a nut shell that is how it started there as well.
I’ve often thought the number one thing that makes the roads so dangerous is mostly attributed to a inflated sense of self worth while using the roads- regardless of what mode you chose to use on them.
tired of delivery vehicles breaking the law with impunity in the name of commerce…
police could spend all day writing tickets to double-parked trucks and UPS vans in downtown…
some businesses, like Bridgeport Brewing at NW 13th/Northrop, are designed where the delivery trucks have to break the law in order to align with their loading docks…
and I doubt we’ll ever see Portland City Code 16.70.450 enforced…
If you are torqued about it wait until the driver gets there and talk with him/her. Get his name, get the license number of the vehicle and contact the company if it feels that he blows you off. If the driver says “naff off” lie down in front of the truck in an act of civil, civil disobedience.
It is interesting that in so many regards BP wants Portland to be Amsterdam, but where those cyclist’s behavior actually tolerate minor, temporary and easily circumvented inconveniences Portland cyclists feel justified in using vandalism or law enforcement (who they otherwise detest) to be their voice.
In other bike friendly countries we aspire to:
() automobile drivers are not actively hostile to non-automotive users
() automobile drivers are subject to much stiffer penalties for infractions and mandatory license revocations for injuries and deaths they cause
() in situations that require police intervention their police understand the laws pertaining to bicycle use of public roads and don’t assume the bicycle rider is at fault for everything taking the auto driver’s testimony as gospel truth
() pieces of safe “bicycles only” infrastructure like this are common and well connected not hard fought table scraps that despite being token segments of a “dream system” we are very protective of because of ALL the time and effort we put in to get them.
So that really is the paradigm: cars have a buffet of choices, bicycles only have the scraps that fall on the floor and if we don’t like it we can just ride out in to car lanes and get killed by people who usually get off with a tiny fine if anything.
Soooo…. YEAH, we’re angry and we have every right to be.
Its also a respect issue, which people riding bicycles don’t get much of to begin with.
There is also a lessons learned task as the City engineers implement and post project review these facilities. Other than telling parking that it is “ok” to enforce these facilities (and for merchants to tell their drivers to not endanger their customers aka “cyclists”) all it may take is for the City Engineer to add “no parking” / “no loading” signs on the existing poles in the cycle track median…and facing the signs to the cycle track.
Additionally there is a tool that could be added to the tool box that is commonly used on highways in the UAE for monitoring illegal truck access. A simple infrared light beam set high up (or loop axel detector) on each block end could communicate that a large truck has entered. Then enforcement could be sent out to see if it is illegal or if they have a permit.
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/ITS/pages/project_ohvws.aspx
Loop detectors that we decry at traffic lights that don’t see bicycles are perfect for this.
Cheap old technology that they understand and know quite well how to tune so that they never see bicycles but always detect the big lumps of metal that are motor vehicles.
The only motor vehicles that belong on a cycle path are ambulances and fire trucks.
() Set a loop detector at any place a motor vehicle can get in.
() Set a red light camera triggered by EVERY loop detection. Cameras can be closer (don’t have to span intersection) and don’t need any sensors other than the loop.
() position 1st camera to get nice “beauty shot” of front license plate and driver.
() position 2nd camera to the side to capture a profile shot as they pass.
And for the City Engineers / Parking Officers…most of these large format delivery trucks are likely too heavy for the design of the curbs and cycle track surfaces…as my rule of thumb is 1 foot of length = ~1,000 lbs GVW…thus a UPS truck is >20,000 and large delivery truck is >30,000 (often > 60,000 lbs GVW these days)…so install signs setting a weight limit to the cycle tracks and adjoining streets to reduce the doubt about who should using these facilities.
Should consider billing their companies for the cost of repair ahead of the surface”s expected life cycle… Immediately.
Then put that money in an interest earning bond until repairs are needed.
And for the City Planners in Portland…why has not the topic of trash and delivery access been solved for these districts yet?
The market place has smaller trucks, freight bikes, etc. and academically the solutions have been discussed for 14 years…just go over to your department’s book case and pull out the book CARFREE CITIES by JH Crawford and open it to page 195. (There must be some cool grants to fund the next generation of clean minor delivery, maintenance and utility vehicles out there.)
http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=TRADE%20PAPER:NEW:9789057270420:21.50#synopses_and_reviews
Why was that new building on SW Moody, directly by the Ross Island Bridge, allowed to be built?
What happens when that bridge needs to be replaced?
We got a new sidewalk on Spring Garden Street. UPS and FEDEX continue to drive up on it and park for deliveries. I’ve emailed them both and they apologized and said they would inform the drivers. I’ll start calling the number above.
Just south of where the picture is above (just south of the cross walk under the tram) it is very common for cars to be parked with half the car in the bike lane. I’ll start calling the number above about that too.
If calling the delivery firms AND the number above does not work then I guess one remaining tool to consider might be loosening the valve core of the driver’s side tire to almost flat it. [Make it very visible but not damaged nor dangerous.] Delivery time lost to this will make them think about how quick parking in the safer and correct loading zone would have been, etc.
This might sound like an incredibly obvious question, but where **are** the delivery trucks supposed to park when making deliveries to the Emery Building? There’s a bakery, a burrito place, a juice place to name just a couple of businesses there. They must have some kind of loading zone, no???
There is a frontage street directly across from the Emery, in front of the Zidell Yards, that serve as a loading zone for several other trucks for local businesses. Also, next to the Emery/Lovejoy Bakery is a 15min parking lot with plenty of room for cars to get around in. Maybe this lot could be used for that 2-5 minute FedEx stop.
I believe all of this comes down to the driver not being familiar with the area or simply not paying attention.
Inexcusable.
How about on all future 3D graphic renderings of proposed cycle tracks in mixed used retail areas posted on BP just stick a Fedex or beer truck parked idle right in the CG image on the cycle track. That way we can all get warmed up to the idea. City software has them in the toolbar for proper fit up…
Mitch said–
I believe all of this comes down to the driver not being familiar with the area or simply not paying attention. . .
More likely, drivers know what they can get away with and push right up to the line. Box truck delivery people downtown are rarely ticketed–but when they get one they are totally nonchalant. Toss it on the dash and move on. I’m guessing the company eats it. Cost of doing business to them.
It’s going strict enforcement and a big ticket ($200+) to stop them. There’s a guy downtown who calls ¡himself! ‘The Parking N@@@’. Send that guy out there.
“The truck drivers might not know it’s not a loading zone,”
For cryin’ out loud! Professional drivers who can’t figure out the lane markings? Really? And we are supposed to trust them to drive large vehicles around crowded cities?