HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-30-20 Public Comment - P. House - Peach Bike Lane CommentsFrom:Bozeman Cottage
To:Agenda
Subject:Peach Bike Lane Comments
Date:Monday, November 30, 2020 4:26:36 PM
Dear Commissioners,I would like to bring more attention to the finished product of bike lanes at the new Peach and Rouseintersection. I had difficulty logging in to last week's online meeting and will try again this week butwanted to submit a few comments by email to ensure this gets attention. I appreciate your efforts at theonline meetings and in some ways it is more convenient so I hope that public participation has notdwindled.
As an avid cyclist traveling some 5000 miles a year on the streets of Bozeman, I have two issues ofdisappointment with the bike lanes on Peach and the lack of consideration given to safety. The first is thetotal lack of bike lanes on Peach when approaching Rouse from either the east or west direction. Withthe Complete Streets resolution in place I thought we didn't have to worry about this happening! Itseems that cars got the red carpet treatment again in this case, with 4 lanes given to cars but cyclistsonly get a sign saying "Bike Lane Ends" and having to risk it by being forced out into the vehicle lanes.
With all the conversion of residential property at this intersection it doesn't appear to be lacking in spacefor a bike lane, and if there wasn't enough room for bike lanes then why have three completely separatelanes for cars turning left, cars going straight, and cars turning right? Where are bikes supposed to gowith that layout?
Secondly, there is an especially offensive curb bulb for cyclists to run into when traveling east on Peachjust at the alley a half a block before Rouse - it seems to unnecessarily be placed right out into theshoulder of the street. There seems to be no reason for this at all, and it is guaranteed to force cyclistsout into the car lanes creating a drastic pinch point right before the street widens into three eastboundlanes. At this bottleneck where there is only one lane in each direction for cars, cyclists suddenly have tomerge completely into the vehicle lane to avoid the curb. Just after that point the street widens way outso this seems especially egregious.
I do appreciate the fully continuous bike lanes on Rouse itself, which makes it mysterious why the Peachintersection came out so poorly. Thank you for your service,Paul House
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