Jamaica Trail North -- Another View & a Rant
Sorry for the double post but I couldn't figure out how to put a photo in a comment.
Look at the nice new pavement on the street. Look how few cars are parked there. Look up the traffic count for this street--very very low. Look how many street crossings the trail makes. Street crossings are the most dangerous part of any ride on a trail. Look at all the people riding bikes on sidewalks instead of in the street where they belong (not shown in this picture). Where else could we have spent the thousands of dollars spent on this trail, and actually done some good? Here's an idea: a campaign to get people comfortable with riding in the streets, and drivers recognizing it's no big deal to share the road? Here's the brand: Bikes Belong! (tm)
Labels: rants
Posted by mM on 7/18/2008 | # |
Comments on "Jamaica Trail North -- Another View & a Rant"
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Beerorkid said ...
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Fluxus said ...
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rokdad said ...
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MG said ...
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slowbiker46 said ...
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MG said ...
<< home | post a commentI get sea sick when riding it. It is more twisty than wilderness. And it did not line up with the cracks on peeps driveways which throws you off a bit. Also say it hits the driveway at a 10% angle, on the other side it will be a completely diff angle.
Since it was on my block I got to watch them do it. There was no real marking of the trail. It was like they just winged it. Like a guy walking backwards while pissing.
On the street crossings only D street is actually a through street (crosses the tracks too). The others along that stretch are dead ends or connect to 3rd street. There is hardly any traffic on the streets to the west, but 4th is pretty busy now that it has been paved. There are tons of kids all over that area though. In my vid you can hear me say "jeesh kid". Little bugger did not look either way and just rode right into the street. Were no cars, but I swear there was no thought to look for traffic. Road crossings are not straight. you have to veer to the street and then get back on the trail.
It looks really bad. Compare it to the mopac or any other path where if you wanted you could fly down it no handed. On this section you are steering the whole time and can hardly fly down it.
Although disappointed, I love that it is on my block and will make hitting wilderness a piece of cake here soon.
I'm really weirded out by how it's designed to go past so many driveways! Talk about a zillion potential hazards to look for. It's probably even more dangerous than riding on a "normal" sidewalk, because calling it a "trail" gives some kind of expectation of safety. And those are precisely the kinds of hazards that make sidewalk riding dangerous--having so many driveways, slight directional changes, and street intersections to keep track of. Super stupid planning.
It would have been a lot cheaper to paint a bike lane on the street.
regarding your Rant I thought the same thing when I heard our mayor say he wanted to pay people a thousand dollars to buy a new house. I thought hmmm, so you have 600 thousand dollars burning a whole in your pocket. And you want to do something that benefits people and economy, well how about cutting a deal for say 1000 bikes and giving them away to people who apply for them, in the same spirit of bikes and cars getting along. I just do not see how giving someone 1000. for buying a house they will buy anyway, because certainly 1000 dollars is not going to make or break you if your buying a house, it just seems small minded. so ends my rant. sank you.
p.s. thanks for the line "Like a guy walking backwards while pissing." pure poetry, I cannot wait to work it into a conversation.
here here regina! i'm with you on the 1000 bikes for people idea.
Wow... As much as I'm a proponent of bike path development, the way this was done is just laughable. Clearly no actual cyclists were involved in the design of the trail, and I have to think there could have been another place in town that had a more urgent need for a well-designed bike trail. In this case, the street is a better, most likely safer bike trail than the bike trail itself!
Maybe all the curviness is for taming high speed bicycle traffic.
Gaffawwwww!!!!
LOL...