yep. It definitely has made crossing 11th much easier. I know we are automatically supposed to hate all things that make an area feel more like a community and slow down cars even for a second.

I think we can all agree that pedestrians and walking have no place in today's society.

Furlock Bones said:

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yep. It definitely has made crossing 11th much easier. I know we are automatically supposed to hate all things that make an area feel more like a community and slow down cars even for a second.

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This is the part that frustrated me the worst. If you were against the bike lanes on 11th it was like you wanted more lanes of traffic.

That wasn't anywhere near the truth. Every neighbor I've talked has loved the crossing on Nicholson. We all agreed it was dangerous to pedestrians. Nobody I know wants that changed back.

We just didn't see the need to put in bike lanes that wouldn't be used/ not needed and even worse put in concrete barriers that would be restrictive.

We wanted safer intersections and crossings. Instead, it felt like we got bike lanes forced on us under the guise of "traffic calming."

I probably spend more time on 11th street than just about anyone. The reduced traffic has been really nice. It can get backed up at rush hour which sucks, but that's really not a huge deal in the grand scheme. Most of the time it moves just fine. And it's much more pedestrian friendly now - you see a lot more people actually walking on/around 11th street...and I think this will increase with more bars, restaurants and retail, etc coming.

But the bike lanes, and especially the design/execution, are just dumb. Contrary to what some say, people do use them - but very few and few between. And I regularly see people using them going the wrong direction - which is really dumb/dangerous.

I thought it would have been good to go to three lanes...one each direction with a dedicated turn lane and a couple well placed pedestrian islands.

Bike lanes around town

More bike lane fun

MAS444 said:

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I probably spend more time on 11th street than just about anyone. The reduced traffic has been really nice. It can get backed up at rush hour which sucks, but that's really not a huge deal in the grand scheme. Most of the time it moves just fine. And it's much more pedestrian friendly now - you see a lot more people actually walking on/around 11th street...and I think this will increase with more bars, restaurants and retail, etc coming.

But the bike lanes, and especially the design/execution, are just dumb. Contrary to what some say, people do use them - but very few and few between. And I regularly see people using them going the wrong direction - which is really dumb/dangerous.

I thought it would have been good to go to three lanes...one each direction with a dedicated turn lane and a couple well placed pedestrian islands.

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Where do you think all the traffic from 11th street went? Do you think people said, oh well now that it is more annoying to drive on 11th let's not go anywhere and walk instead. Or do you think they said, screw getting on 11th I'll drive a ways to go parallel to 11th. So now the problem is moved to another street's problem.

This didn't solve anything it just at best moved the problem elsewhere.

I was just giving my observations...but I tend to agree with you that the 11th st work has probably not caused traffic to disappear from the face of the earth. But not sure how my post suggested otherwise.

I wish the state was more friendly towards cyclists in general. Getting out and riding a bike is so much fun.

As it is I do the majority of my riding on a turbo trainer.

drumboy said:

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chico said:

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This is Hardy, right?

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Yes - the top 3 pics are either Hardy and/or Elysian, they both have bike lanes and a bunch of haphazardly placed alligator barriers. I took all 3 pics on one Saturday. The 4th pick in the top post is Cavalcade, just west of Hardy/Elysian. I stopped my bike to take these pics.

The next post showing the cars are screen-grabs from videos. I always have video running front & back on my bike. The 1st pic is Center at Taylor showing the truck clearly running the red light but I stopped in time. I don't remember the 2nd pic but I think it's near Lyons, by Saint Arnolds. The 3rd pic is going south on Houston Ave at Spring by the east/west bike lane crossing; that car continued to pinch me out. The 4th pic is actually from the best. As the truck was gaining on me, a sheriff's deputy turned alongside the truck and obliviously kept on going - didn't even roll down the window and yell "hey buddy get out of the bike lane!"

I started collecting pics like these after former city council member Kubosh was wondering on council one day why nobody rode in the bike lanes. I started sending him these pics, suggesting the horrible infrastructure contributes to their limited use. The video of the disinterested deputy caught his eye as Kubosh emailed me back, alarmed at the deputy's non-action.
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I have other videos, dogs chasing me, a motorcycle cop running a red light in front of me, cars cutting me off to turn right in front of me...I have a lot of stories!

Here's some more as I'm running down the rabbit hole....
Motorcycle cop running red light Houston Ave at Washington
friendly neighborhood dogs, 1- Harris St near Wiggins and 2- Link St just east of I-45

MAS444 said:

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I probably spend more time on 11th street than just about anyone. The reduced traffic has been really nice. It can get backed up at rush hour which sucks, but that's really not a huge deal in the grand scheme. Most of the time it moves just fine. And it's much more pedestrian friendly now - you see a lot more people actually walking on/around 11th street...and I think this will increase with more bars, restaurants and retail, etc coming.

But the bike lanes, and especially the design/execution, are just dumb. Contrary to what some say, people do use them - but very few and few between. And I regularly see people using them going the wrong direction - which is really dumb/dangerous.

I thought it would have been good to go to three lanes...one each direction with a dedicated turn lane and a couple well placed pedestrian islands.

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I'm happy to be one of the "just about" people ...

Some of the congestion problems have eased over time because cars are doing what we expected - cutting through the neighborhood. In fact, my GPS routinely recommends cutting through to avoid 11th.

During off-peak hours, it's definitely not that bad, but peak hours can be really terrible, especially if you are closer to Yale or Shepherd. It can often take 2-3 light cycles to get through those intersections, especially Shepherd. It sometimes takes 5-10 minutes for me just to pull out onto 11th from my street, particularly when having to make a left turn onto 11th.

There are two aspects of the project that have made 11th MORE dangerous that any traffic engineer could have identified without even doing any math:

1.) When it was 2 lanes in each direction, the lanes were 11 feet wide and the single lanes are now 14 or 15 feet wide. The 85th percentile speed during light traffic has increased dramatically. I routinely walk to and from the gym and at night, in particular, it is common to see cars traveling in excess of 50 mph down 11th. That is definitely NOT safer, but they average those speeds into the 1000 cars that are going 8 mph at 5:00 in the evening to give the illusion of safety; and

2.) Placing vehicles farther away from the sidewalk to accommodate bike lanes makes drivers much less likely to see pedestrians at intersections when making right turns. This increases the risk of pedestrians being struck by vehicles and I've had my share of near-misses while on foot for this very reason.

That being said, the improvements at Nicholson are certainly welcomed, even if a bunch of A-holes still don't stop. It doesn't help that there is no street light over the north end of the crosswalk there. Nonetheless, it could have been more easily achieved (and safer) with a configuration like 7th at Yale with a pedestrian-activated signal.

Sorry homie, I was late getting the kids to tumbling and 11th was backed up 5 blocks from Waverly

I don't know how you she didn't see me ... I was wearing an orange shirt for the first time since before I became an Aggie. My fat ass must have looked like a traffic barrel.

htxag09 said:

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inconvenient truth said:

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wessimo said:

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They should rip out all sidewalks everywhere while they are at it. That should allow 1-2 lanes to be added to every street.

And rip out the ridiculous tree-lined median on Heights Blvd.

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So emotional. You should rip up your spandex in protest.

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Same could be said about Giggity or, more likely, just a poor troll....isn't he the poster that basically said all crosswalks should be abolished because he is tired of having to wait for mom's pushing their strollers to turn right at a light/intersection?

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Not a troll. I work in and around the heights. It's stupid to have all these pedestrians crossing high traffic routes. Cinco, bridge land, etc have no trouble actually engineering walking paths that have minimal interaction with traffic. Somehow that engineering ability escapes the Karen's and soy boys of the heights. It's asinine that you can't make a right turn with a green light without having to look for some idiot walking.

Take Yale

So you don't see the difference in bridgeland and the heights?

GiggityAg01 said:

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htxag09 said:

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inconvenient truth said:

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wessimo said:

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They should rip out all sidewalks everywhere while they are at it. That should allow 1-2 lanes to be added to every street.

And rip out the ridiculous tree-lined median on Heights Blvd.

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So emotional. You should rip up your spandex in protest.

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Same could be said about Giggity or, more likely, just a poor troll....isn't he the poster that basically said all crosswalks should be abolished because he is tired of having to wait for mom's pushing their strollers to turn right at a light/intersection?

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Not a troll. I work in and around the heights. It's stupid to have all these pedestrians crossing high traffic routes. Cinco, bridge land, etc have no trouble actually engineering walking paths that have minimal interaction with traffic. Somehow that engineering ability escapes the Karen's and soy boys of the heights. It's asinine that you can't make a right turn with a green light without having to look for some idiot walking.

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It is amazing you were able to hit the post button without realizing exactly how stupid what you typed really was.

GiggityAg01 said:

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htxag09 said:

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inconvenient truth said:

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wessimo said:

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They should rip out all sidewalks everywhere while they are at it. That should allow 1-2 lanes to be added to every street.

And rip out the ridiculous tree-lined median on Heights Blvd.

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So emotional. You should rip up your spandex in protest.

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Same could be said about Giggity or, more likely, just a poor troll....isn't he the poster that basically said all crosswalks should be abolished because he is tired of having to wait for mom's pushing their strollers to turn right at a light/intersection?

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Not a troll. I work in and around the heights. It's stupid to have all these pedestrians crossing high traffic routes. Cinco, bridge land, etc have no trouble actually engineering walking paths that have minimal interaction with traffic. Somehow that engineering ability escapes the Karen's and soy boys of the heights. It's asinine that you can't make a right turn with a green light without having to look for some idiot walking.

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You should take this up with the Heights developers who were master planning just a decade after cars replaced horses in the US. They should have had the same foresight as the Bridge Land, Cinco developers!

GiggityAg01 said:

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wessimo said:

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Take Yale

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That used to be viable until they added all the crosswalk signals at 14th etc. Now it's the same as heights just with fewer places to cross.

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Posts like this make me question if you've ever actually driven in the area. Yale is nothing like Heights Blvd