Showing posts with label #sasidewalkssuck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #sasidewalkssuck. Show all posts
Thursday, June 18, 2015
#ride4Devona
A member of our community has recently gotten hit by an careless driver. Please attend and help her pay her medical bills. http://www.gofundme.com/d-rod
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Advice on Improving VIA Part I
I wrote before how VIA sucks back in August, and ask anyone who takes the bus, on a daily basis for they'll agree with the sentiment. It's not really VIA's fault that they suck. Roughly 80% of the the reasons they suck are things they have no control over such as the fact that they have to serve a very large spread out city and they only receive 1/2¢ sales tax to pay to operate the system. Compare that to Dallas, Houston and Austin which receive a full cent sales tax, VIA have to be thrifty with their cash. They are unable to operate in places like Live Oak, Hollywood Park, Helotes, Windcrest and other independent municipalities that just don't want to pay the sales tax and they just don't like public transit at all. They also have to comply with the American With Disabilities Act and the Federal Transit Administration which means that they have to pick up any wheelchair even though the bus is full and running late.
The 20% that VIA has control over such as bus stop location, park-n-ride location, types of buses they use every day, how they collect fare. It is this 20% that VIA can work on fixing and this is where my advice comes in. So for the new VIA board chair, Hope Andrade, here are my suggestions to fix the image of your failing bus service. Yes your bus drivers are nice and I know a few. Yes you have the best mechanics in North America and how you pay for them is WONDERFUL, but in the end, that is only doing so much.
On some of it's routes, they do a terrible disservice on where they locate bus stops. This is a big problem mainly on the Looper 550/551. I pointed this out in my Streetcar series, Streetcar Part I, VIA Sucks when I pointed out the fact on how the 28 and 515 bus stop #16838 is nearly a quarter of a mile away from the connecting route of the 550 bus stop #96897. (For the record, I mistook bus route number for I always get confused on which number of the 550/551 Looper is going.) For some reason, VIA feels it necessary to discriminate against the hostage users (my term for transit dependent people) on my side of town. This is not the only bus stop, for the connecting bus stop of the 551 was recently moved from the traffic island on WW White and Rigsby (Image 32-1) and was moved south to the Hold Caterpillar Training Center.(Image 32-2) Yes TxDOT recently repaved the sidewalks on this part of WW White, but now this bus stop is further from places where people go to such as the 99 Cent Only Store and the CPS Energy bill paying center. (Image 32-3) Why they couldn't put this bus stop just pass the Burger King is beyond me, (Image 32-3) but as the actions of VIA speak louder than words, they obviously saying that you should buy a car so you don't have to worry where they locate the bus stops.
This isn't the only bus stop like this for the 550/551 Looper Bus Stops are notoriously placed far away from connecting routes especially along the frontage rd of Loop 410. This is one of the reason why the majority of the hostage users in San Antonio considers VIA to suck. I understand that sometime you cannot get the bus stop where you would want it in the first place, but that doesn't mean that you should give up on not striving for good location and keep the walking distance down to a minimum between connecting bus stops because if the goal of VIA is to keep Paratransit usage down, then keeping the bus stops far apart will only encourage those who qualify for Paratransit to use it more often. VIA also wants more people to ride their buses, well when San Antonio sidewalks suck, (#sasidewalkssuck) having those bus stops to where they don't have to walk as far just makes sense.
This is not the only example for they're plenty of examples on the 550/551 Looper, all across town. The worse being able to connect from the Looper to the VIA PRIMO, 100 route at Wonderland Mall of the Americas. Please fix that one before you tackle the ones along Loop 410.
What Via Got Right
Hostage users like myself depend on the bus to be able to get to the grocery store, to get to work and to be able to go to other places to run errands. When VIA chose the location for the Kel-Lac Transit Center, (Image 32-4) they located it in the best possible spot, right next to a neighborhood, and right next to a Shopping Center where K-mart and Handy Andys use to be. Today the shopping center has several shops including a Family Dollar and a flea market. It's better than the old location between US 90 Access Rd and the Freeway which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Kudos to VIA for working out a deal so the buses could use the backside of this shopping center for a quick way through back to Military Dr. I can only hope that the owner of this shopping center will improve upon the location and turn it into a mix use area with apartments, and maybe even a grocery store like there use to be. Also I bet that VIA is actually adding value to this property. So if they're paying increase property tax to the County and the City because of Kel-Lac, then shouldn't that increase amount that the property is paying go to VIA? That is how they use to fund transportation, not by a user fee, but by a Land Value Added Tax.
The North Star Transit Center replaced the old bus stops on Rector, and although those bus stop shelters still exist, they at least placed this Transit Center right in the middle of the action. Due to height changes in the terrain, it is somewhat cut off from from the mall. But due to TxDOT's improvements to the sidewalks in this area, it's now a better place to walk, and you can still access the mall from the transit center location by either walking, or catching a bus to the old bus stops on Rector. Although VIA could work on shortening the distance one must walk to the mall from this location, for the most part, it's properly located so one can access nearly all of the businesses on foot both inside and outside loop 410 all be it, a somewhat of a distance to walk.
Also the cluster of Bus Stops at Walmarts such as Mainland, 281 At Loop 1604, and Rigsby At Loop 410 are also good choices as well. Now I'm not a big fan of Walmart, but when your grocery stores are limited to only two which are HEB and Walmart, and when you live with out a car like I do, (hostage user) your glad that the bus stops right next to the store instead of being at the edge of the parking lot along the stroad.
1. Put Connecting Bus Stops Closer Together.
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This isn't the only bus stop like this for the 550/551 Looper Bus Stops are notoriously placed far away from connecting routes especially along the frontage rd of Loop 410. This is one of the reason why the majority of the hostage users in San Antonio considers VIA to suck. I understand that sometime you cannot get the bus stop where you would want it in the first place, but that doesn't mean that you should give up on not striving for good location and keep the walking distance down to a minimum between connecting bus stops because if the goal of VIA is to keep Paratransit usage down, then keeping the bus stops far apart will only encourage those who qualify for Paratransit to use it more often. VIA also wants more people to ride their buses, well when San Antonio sidewalks suck, (#sasidewalkssuck) having those bus stops to where they don't have to walk as far just makes sense.
This is not the only example for they're plenty of examples on the 550/551 Looper, all across town. The worse being able to connect from the Looper to the VIA PRIMO, 100 route at Wonderland Mall of the Americas. Please fix that one before you tackle the ones along Loop 410.
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2. Transit Center Locations.
VIA has a mix history when it comes to transit center locations. For this reporting, I will also include clusters of bus stops like Naco Pass. The Transit Centers they got right and put in the right places are Kel-Lac, Mainland, Walmart at 281 and Loop 1604, North Star, and the Walmart at Rigsby and 410. The ones they got in the wrong places are Madla, Naco Pass, and Randolph. I'll just won't talk about Crossroads, for VIA is considering to get rid of it and move it closer to the Primo Station on Fredricksburg Rd near Crossroads BLVD. I also will not be talking about the Medical Center Transit Center and Ingram for I have mix feelings about them unless someone asks me to in a future post. And from my understanding, VIA is about to make mistakes on it's future transit centers such as the one planned for Brooks City Base and Stone Oak.What Via Got Right
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The North Star Transit Center replaced the old bus stops on Rector, and although those bus stop shelters still exist, they at least placed this Transit Center right in the middle of the action. Due to height changes in the terrain, it is somewhat cut off from from the mall. But due to TxDOT's improvements to the sidewalks in this area, it's now a better place to walk, and you can still access the mall from the transit center location by either walking, or catching a bus to the old bus stops on Rector. Although VIA could work on shortening the distance one must walk to the mall from this location, for the most part, it's properly located so one can access nearly all of the businesses on foot both inside and outside loop 410 all be it, a somewhat of a distance to walk.
Also the cluster of Bus Stops at Walmarts such as Mainland, 281 At Loop 1604, and Rigsby At Loop 410 are also good choices as well. Now I'm not a big fan of Walmart, but when your grocery stores are limited to only two which are HEB and Walmart, and when you live with out a car like I do, (hostage user) your glad that the bus stops right next to the store instead of being at the edge of the parking lot along the stroad.
What VIA Got Wrong
The transit centers that VIA got wrong are Madla, Naco Pass, and Randolph. These transit centers are located away from places where people want go. In Madla's case, (Image 32-5) it located away from South Park Mall, it's located away from the apartments on S Zarzamora, and there just happens to be a fence on Cantrell Dr blocking access to the neighborhood from the transit center. Now it just happens to be in a perfect spot for a future train station for the Lone Star Rail, however, I will stand by my opinion, it is simply a study collecting dust and there will be no train station at this location ever. If VIA is ever to improve service on the South Side around South Park Mall, they better put it in a better location, like in South Park Mall's parking lot.
Randolph Park And Ride has a history. The buses that serve this place was once located at Windsor Park Mall, now the home of Rackspace. Back in 1992, (maybe I got this year wrong) a terrible murder took place there. A man waiting for the bus to go home just had 40 cents in his pocket, the bus fare amount back then. Another man came along and in the process of robbing him, killed him for not having any money on him except 40 cents. It was this tragedy that prompted VIA to move the transit center to it's current location at I-35 and Loop 410. (Image 32-6) People don't know, but the neighborhoods around Windcrest are very dangerous neighborhoods. What VIA got wrong at this location was where they put the parking lot, and where they put the bus shelter. In a perfect world, the transit shelter would be located next to the intersection of Randolph Blvd and Crestway Dr, while the parking lot would be located next to the interstate. But no, they had to do it the other way so people would have to walk farther. I don't think that the designers of this place were thinking about walking in the July heat, but I can only hope that today's designers, architects, and engineers will take into account that walking long distances in a 100 degrees heat is a no go for everyone. Other locations could have been sought out such as Perrin Beitel and Loop 410, but no matter.
Now Naco Pass (Image 32-7) is another failure for it is located far away from the businesses such as HEB, Walgreens and the Walmart around the intersection of Thousand Oaks and Nacogdoches. The problem is that this cluster of bus stops is that it is located behind a bowling alley at Uhr Ln and Naco Pass. Maybe one day, VIA can forgo this location and put this cluster closer to the intersection of Thousand Oaks at Nacogdoches, but until then, we hostage users are just going to have to suffer, either wait an hour for a bus going to the proper place, or walk to these places.
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The transit centers that VIA got wrong are Madla, Naco Pass, and Randolph. These transit centers are located away from places where people want go. In Madla's case, (Image 32-5) it located away from South Park Mall, it's located away from the apartments on S Zarzamora, and there just happens to be a fence on Cantrell Dr blocking access to the neighborhood from the transit center. Now it just happens to be in a perfect spot for a future train station for the Lone Star Rail, however, I will stand by my opinion, it is simply a study collecting dust and there will be no train station at this location ever. If VIA is ever to improve service on the South Side around South Park Mall, they better put it in a better location, like in South Park Mall's parking lot.
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Randolph Park And Ride has a history. The buses that serve this place was once located at Windsor Park Mall, now the home of Rackspace. Back in 1992, (maybe I got this year wrong) a terrible murder took place there. A man waiting for the bus to go home just had 40 cents in his pocket, the bus fare amount back then. Another man came along and in the process of robbing him, killed him for not having any money on him except 40 cents. It was this tragedy that prompted VIA to move the transit center to it's current location at I-35 and Loop 410. (Image 32-6) People don't know, but the neighborhoods around Windcrest are very dangerous neighborhoods. What VIA got wrong at this location was where they put the parking lot, and where they put the bus shelter. In a perfect world, the transit shelter would be located next to the intersection of Randolph Blvd and Crestway Dr, while the parking lot would be located next to the interstate. But no, they had to do it the other way so people would have to walk farther. I don't think that the designers of this place were thinking about walking in the July heat, but I can only hope that today's designers, architects, and engineers will take into account that walking long distances in a 100 degrees heat is a no go for everyone. Other locations could have been sought out such as Perrin Beitel and Loop 410, but no matter.
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Now Naco Pass (Image 32-7) is another failure for it is located far away from the businesses such as HEB, Walgreens and the Walmart around the intersection of Thousand Oaks and Nacogdoches. The problem is that this cluster of bus stops is that it is located behind a bowling alley at Uhr Ln and Naco Pass. Maybe one day, VIA can forgo this location and put this cluster closer to the intersection of Thousand Oaks at Nacogdoches, but until then, we hostage users are just going to have to suffer, either wait an hour for a bus going to the proper place, or walk to these places.
Future Transit Centers
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They're many new transit centers and park-n-rides planned all across San Antonio and Bexar County. One such transit center is being proposed for Brooks City Base.(Image 32-8) If VIA want to improve it's image, they better located this transit center at the intersections of Goliad and SE Military, or at City Base landing and SE Military. It should be quite obvious why it should be located here, because if it's located further into Brooks, then it will simply be cutting off people from where they want to go, like the HEB, the Walmart Supercenter, the Best Buy and even the Target. The same rules should also go for the future transit centers of Stone Oak, Beorne, and even New Braunfels. Kel-Lac should be the example that VIA strives towards, connecting their patrons to the place that they need to go to. Transit centers are there to connect multiple bus routes at one location. They do a better job when they also are able to connect to places that people need to go.
So far what I have written should tell you that we're not just transit users, but we're pedestrians and people just don't like to walk very far. So closing the distances between bus stops and where people want to go should be a goal for future transit centers and connecting bus stops. This blog is getting pretty long, so I leave the other suggestions in my next blog post in two weeks, so until then, enjoy.
Images:
32-1: A Google Street View of the former location of the 551 Bus Stop at Rigsby showing by accident where the 30 bus stop is Viewing North.
32-2: Current location of the 551 bus stop showing it to be farther away from Rigsby viewing North
32-3: A Google Satellite Map showing where bus stops where, and are currently and where some business are where people need to go.
32-4: A Google Satellite Map showing where the Current and old Kel-Lac transit center are at US 90 and Military Dr.
32-5: A Google Map showing the location and how things are cut off from Madla Transit Center on the South Side of Town. I didn't choose the Satellite Map because I wanted to show the walking distance from a random address in the neighborhood next to the transit center and how it's pretty much cut off from everything.
32-6: A Google Satellite Map of Randolph Park-n-Ride showing where the Transit Shelter and the parking should have been placed.
32-7: A Google Satellite Map of Naco Pass Showing how it is poorly located.
32-8: A Google Satellite Map of Brooks City Base Showing the future failure of VIA's future Transit Center.
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Everything Wrong with The Convention Center Cycletrack
Happy new year to everyone. As usual life gets in my way of writing, but I have settled on at least one story ever two weeks. Also as I finish writing this post, I would like to inform all of my readers of the lost to the local cycling community and a friend Matthew Ahern. He recently past away on Thursday due to a bad heart. He didn't so much helped to make the bicycling community as he worked to try to make San Antonio Real. I fell out of touch with him when he lost that house on Howard St in which he wanted to have as a urban farm. San Antonio will miss you.
Also to keep this blog from being published, I got sick to the point that this screen was very hard to see and I was unable to walk around. Bright screens hurt my eyes and since I've just recovered, It just now coming out.
Also to keep this blog from being published, I got sick to the point that this screen was very hard to see and I was unable to walk around. Bright screens hurt my eyes and since I've just recovered, It just now coming out.
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Hey San Antonio, have you ever wanted a bicycle path like you heard about them having in Denmark or the Netherlands? Or what about the ones their building in Austin? Well have there is one right now along the frontage road of I-37 in front of the Convention Center.(Image 31-1).
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I notice the new cycletrack when I first saw the cut out in the concrete at the intersection of E Commerce and the southbound exit of I-37 back in 2013. (Image 31-2) I normally see these cuts in sidewalks underneath freeway bridges for storm water drainage, but it's rare to see these things downtown and so big for that matter. Now I was hoping that they would at least spread it out down E Commerce, but knowing the unofficial stance towards cycling, I knew it wouldn't happen. I also knew that from the get go in 2013, that Transportation & Capital Improvements would have all the signals screwed up and bias towards everyone not in a car. Now don't get me wrong building this is having San Antonio move in the right direction, but it should have been built for people being the first priority, not the cars going by. In my opinion, they build this to say we're doing something for cycling, now stop asking for improvements. Everything I saw was built to make sure cars can go as fast as they possibly can and to have people feel inferior when you are on foot and bicycle.
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Now I'm going to point out everything both wrong and right with this new piece of infrastructure. I'll be working my way from E Commerce to Cesar Chavez. I will try to show as many picture as possible, but if any one wants to help me make a video on what is wrong, please contact me, via the links to the left of this page.
Coming from E Commerce, just as you approach I-37, you'll start to see a shaded painted protected bicycle lane to your right. As you come you enter the bicycle lane you'll come to a light crossing the southbound exit from I-37. As you cross that exit, you come to a pole with a crosswalk button (they're actually called beggars buttons) that signals the bicycle light signal. But you immediately see the problem with the button that suppose to activate the signal across Commerce on the other side of the pole out of reach because of a curb. (Image 31-3) This is Failure one, why they didn't put on the side of the bike lane is beyond me. What this action says to me, "is that I should be in a car, not on a bicycle."
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The next failure is that the bicycle light and the Crosswalk light isn't on at the same time and isn't on at the same time with green light for the cars.(Image 31-4) Another problem is that signal lights don't light up automatically when the green light is on for the cars going in the same direction as it is on at most downtown crosswalks. Austin had it right when they put this sign up on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway for they didn't use any bicycle signals, they just used the regular crosswalk signal. This light just happens to be on when the green light is on for the cars.(Image 31-5)
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Another problem are the large crowds during an Alamodome event. Now the good news is that they don't head down towards Montana, at least most of them. However, because there's lack of sinage, people walk along the path set up for the bicycles as well as the path set out for them. Having some sinage down either painted on the path or put up telling people to stay right would help, not just on the path by the Institute of Texan Cultures, but would be great along the entire length. Also having a orange stripe down the entire length of the path would help along with some Sharrows, a place where they would actually be useful. (Image 31-6, 31-7)
Again both at Market and Montana, the bicycle light isn't in sink with the motor vehicle light or the crosswalk light. I'm expecting SAPD bike patrol to start handing out tickets to anyone running this red light. All I can say to the person who timed these lights is thanks again for keeping San Antonio lame and for keeping the easier choice to use still be the polluting one.
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Now the worse part of this entire construction and it makes me think that the person who designed it and signed off on it's construction cannot seem to use good common sense, i.e., an idiot. It's not just a danger for people on foot, or on a bicycle coming off the path, but it is also a problem for future delivery 18 wheelers going to the New HEB that will be built at S Main and Caesar Chavez. The HEB Warehouse is located at Loop 410 and Rittiman Rd. From there any delivery truck will be heading south on I-35 and then to I-37 and be getting off at Caesar Chavez. They will be turning in this terrible designed right turn lane tearing down the Do Not Enter Sign which has already been torn down by another vehicle, which I cannot determine if it was a car or a big commercial vehicle. (Image 31-10)
As Any 18 wheeler using this turn lane, their trailer wheels will go over the sidewalk, and who know if it will hurt any people waiting to cross to the island.(Image 31-11) That waiting area to cross is so narrow and shouldn't have been built in the first place. The way it should have been built was to have the sidewalk at least come out to where we have the island and no island be built, and from there be able to cross the stroad. This is by far the biggest problem of the entire Cycletrack. Now only will it cost a few million to rebuilt, I hate to say it but it will never get built until somebody gets killed walking or biking here. That's the sad fact that if we were to make it safer, someone is going to have to die. Chances are, they'll just make it safer for the cars speeding, not for anyone on foot or bike. Also it would help if the people designing these things at least had to attend truck driver training class and obtain a Class A-CDL. I think by having such experience, then we would see less terrible designs for both vehicles and people. If your asking why was it built, so cars could turn faster. As we have seen time and time again that faster speeds hurt people. So if your ever walking by using this crosswalk. Just remember, the car turning faster is more important than your safety on foot. (Image 31-11)
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So lets see whats wrong. One, lack of paint for keeping people to their proper sides. Two, having the bicycle and pedestrian signals not in sink with the vehicle signals. Three, having the beggars button for the bicycle signal, which in many cases is simply not needed hard to reach and push to activate it. And finally, having the turn lane at Cesar Chavez.(Image 31-11) If most of these things can be fixed, then that's great, but the thing that needs to be fixed the most is the most expensive problem and that's that right turn lane with that island at Cesar Chavez.
Images:
31-1: Viewing North of the Convention Center Cycletrack just past the Institute of Texan Cultures.
31-2: Viewing West at East Commerce and I-37 of the police cars parked in the bike lane.
31-3: Viewing West at E Commerce and I-37 showing the button on the other side of the curb of the bicycle lane.
31-4: Viewing South at E Commerce showing both the bicycle signal and the pedestrian signal not in sink with the vehicle signal in the same direction.
31-5: Viewing East on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway in Austin at a digital sign telling motorist to yield to people in the crosswalk both on foot and bicycle.
31-6: Viewing South at Market where the bicycle signal is red and the pedestrian signal is counting down.
31-7: A group of people in the bicycle path approaching Montana where you see the pedestrian and bicycle signal in red while the vehicle is in green viewing south
31-8: A man in the Crosswalk crossing the Southbound I-37 Exit at E Commerce St showing how the bicycle signal is on while the crosswalk is off.
31-9: A sign asking people to share the path as it becomes one path at the Institute of Texas Cultures
31-10: A picture of the down Do Not Enter Sign and the Fast Turn lane at Cesar Chavez at I-37
31-11: A group of people wait to cross to the island at Cesar Chavez and I-37
Images:
31-1: Viewing North of the Convention Center Cycletrack just past the Institute of Texan Cultures.
31-2: Viewing West at East Commerce and I-37 of the police cars parked in the bike lane.
31-3: Viewing West at E Commerce and I-37 showing the button on the other side of the curb of the bicycle lane.
31-4: Viewing South at E Commerce showing both the bicycle signal and the pedestrian signal not in sink with the vehicle signal in the same direction.
31-5: Viewing East on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway in Austin at a digital sign telling motorist to yield to people in the crosswalk both on foot and bicycle.
31-6: Viewing South at Market where the bicycle signal is red and the pedestrian signal is counting down.
31-7: A group of people in the bicycle path approaching Montana where you see the pedestrian and bicycle signal in red while the vehicle is in green viewing south
31-8: A man in the Crosswalk crossing the Southbound I-37 Exit at E Commerce St showing how the bicycle signal is on while the crosswalk is off.
31-9: A sign asking people to share the path as it becomes one path at the Institute of Texas Cultures
31-10: A picture of the down Do Not Enter Sign and the Fast Turn lane at Cesar Chavez at I-37
31-11: A group of people wait to cross to the island at Cesar Chavez and I-37
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Another Useless Bicycle Lane
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Back in April, I wrote the post Useless Bicycle lane, showing how three bicycle lanes in the city are completely useless in providing actual protection. They were S Main Ave, S Pine St, and Elmendorf St on the west side. Since my publishing of that story several things have changed and I can add two new ones to that list which are Village Parkway on the Far West Side, and Diana on the East Side.
I think a lot of you are asking what constitutes a Useless bicycle lane, and this is how I come to figure out that conclusion. The first thing I go by the Dutch principal which you can see below this paragraph in this video explaining when and where you put one and a quote of Jeremy of the Critical transit blog Transit Tip #14 which states: "There’s a tendency among bike advocates to champion the delineation of a “bike space” even without any actual space being created. You know, “if there’s room for a bike lane” without changing anything else on the street". When the Dutch put down a bicycle lane (and they do just like us Americans) or a cycletrack, they put them where they are needed, like places where cars go faster than 30 KM per hour. For us Americans, that roughly 20 Miles per hour. There's a reason why nearly all school zones are 20 miles per hour, because that is the safest, fastest speed possible to prevent collisions and reduce harm when collisions occur. The Dutch put those 20 mph zone not just in school zones, but down residential streets. You also see 25 MPH in the neighborhoods of Terrell Hills and Alamo Heights, which makes me think they sort of get it.
The Improvements
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Elemndorf out by Woodlawn Lake also got a small improvement, that of a 25 MPH sign and as I was riding down it, I notice that most of the cars were following it too. The bicycle lane with parked cars in it is still there, but the wasted paint it's fading day by day.
New Useless Lanes
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Now I wouldn't be complaining about the neckdown along with the bicycle lane, (Image 22-4) but since they build it with rainwater runoff being more important than having adequate protection of the cyclist. Common sense should have told the idiot who designed it that cyclist and cars don't mix and should have had a 5ft opening through the neckdown. Or better yet, realize that the bicycle lane is useless in the first place and build the neckdown out to the place where you see the outer stripe of the bike lane, but no, they had to reroute the bike lane around it bring it into close contact with impatient drivers. The good news about all of this is the bicycle lane on Culebra and although I think removing the right traffic lane and putting down a protected cycletrack would be better, it's better than nothing.
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Diana on the East side has one of these useless bicycle lanes. (Image 22-5) It's a very wide street and does nothing for safety of the pedestrians or cyclist. It does however provide a small space for people walking along the east side of the street because the city felt that not having a sidewalk would help people not fall into the ditch that runs along side Diana. There's barely enough traffic along this street to really warrant the width of the street or the bicycle lane there except when the school is ending or starting the day. This bicycle lane doesn't need to be on Diana, but should have been placed on Rigsby where the fast moving traffic on that stroad should have a least a bicycle lane or better yet, a protected cycletrack.
The solutions that I come up are something that the city cannot do because that would slow down cars, and we just can't do that. One of these solutions is changing the law that forces the CMI people to use AASHTO standards which are great for long distance interstates instead of the NATCO (National Association of City Transportation Officials) standards that were developed for urban areas and looking in there to determine how wide the street needs to be because this road surface needs to be narrowed with wide sidewalks along both sides with planted Pecan trees between the sidewalk and the street. This would do wonders for the property values and provide shade along the street along with 25 mile per hour signs would also do good. Maybe a parking lane along the elementary school and the city park would also be good instead of a useless bicycle lane.
Now there are others that I've been considering to be useless such as SW 19th St, Timberhill, Rittiman, and even Semlinger Rd, but I'm not yet to declare these useless because traffic volume is just enough to consider their need, but what's the point, after all people consider this space to better use by parked cars than a space for a cyclist to be. Keep San Antonio Lame.
Images:
22-1: A picture of S Main Ave looking north back in April, 2014
22-2: A picture of S Main Ave looking north back in August, 2014
22-3: A picture of Village Parkway looking west
22-4: A picture of the neckdown at Cross Springs and Village parkway looking east.
22-5: A picture of Diana looking north.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Streetcar Part III, No Need for Streetcars Down Broadway.
Sorry for the wait, but as usual my life has been busy. Since I got a new job and my hours have change, I'll be changing the publishing day to Monday or Tuesday every week and I'm still committed to publishing every week.
Also, I'll be creating two new pages, one, of important meetings that cyclist or concern citizens should attend to make San Antonio a real place, and two, one of bicycling related events that are taking place in San Antonio.
Streetcar Part III, No Need for Streetcars Down Broadway.
Now lets get one thing strait, I was a streetcar supporter. Why you ask, because even this slow, lousy system would be a plus to our transit system that sucks. It would have gotten some political supporters that "choice users" bring to the transit discussion that San Antonio currently lacks, and most of all, I wouldn't have to worry about a bike rack being full especially on a rainy day for I would be able to take my bicycle aboard and not just the minimum three allowed and most of all, maybe a chance to actually get a protected bike lane on Broadway. I also felt that this was a scheme in Via's long range plan from the former CEO, Keith Parker, now in charge of Atlanta, GA MARTA in which he said, that once you build it, the people are going to change their tune from the current "rail sucks" to "when are you going to bring it to my neighborhood." I felt that after they build it, they would have eventually either expanded the system to include more of the city like out to Loop 410 with faster speeds, or put light rail back on the ballot like back in 2000.
The more and more I heard about the development results of the streetcar, the more I felt that the goal of the Streetcar was based on the McKinney Ave Streetcar (Image 19-1, 19-2) in the Uptown neighborhood in Dallas which to me seems to be a place a lot like La Cantera. It was the dream of Mayor Hardberger to connect the Pearl with the rest of Downtown and the streetcar would have done that.
Back in September 2013, I went to Dallas to see the new transit service to the largest city that lacks transit service, Arlington, TX; although, what I found was disappointing, I also wanted to ride with the Dallas Critical Mass to get their opinion on how they deal with McKinney Ave Streetcar tracks for which they said they treat it like any other street with lots of pot holes.
That night as we rode, they took me to a place called the Truck Yard just off of Greenville Ave, and there I discovered a place that was the pinnacle of what good urbanism brings out, a First Friday every night, or at least every weekend. For those of you who don't know what First Friday is, well think of the Pearl Farmers Market is every Saturday morning. It was after that that I finally realize that we don't really need a streetcar to achieve development goal of what the Streetcar promised,(Image 19-3) but what we really need to do is create the foundation of a neighborhood that creates the conditions that makes a really happening place.
To create that foundation of development that was sought with the Streetcar, we need to fix the problem that is currently found on Broadway or for that matter, the entire downtown where the Streetcar was planned to travel down.
Before the big sidewalks were added, Greenville was much like Broadway is currently. A stroad with fast moving, many lanes of traffic and nothing happening along it. Today, Greenville Ave is a place is much like South Alamo but with super size sidewalks. Even though S Alamo lacks the big sidewalks, the concept is virtually the same, two lanes of slow moving traffic with sidewalks protected by plants or parked vehicles, and a community that is allowed to reinvent itself. Broadway is the opposite of that with fast moving cars, multiple lanes of traffic and tiny sidewalks with no protection from traffic full of obstacles like this bus stop at Fourth and Broadway.(Image 19-4) It's a Stroad in every sense, every space for cars, not much for anything else. We also need to fix the zoning when it comes to new development and make it more flexible, such as no parking minimums with new development.
You can tell just by looking at the area around Greenville Ave that it's a happening place and not just by the dancing frogs on top of the Taco Cabana.(Image 19-5) The sidewalks that are here use to be vehicle lanes (Image 19-6) and because there's a space for parking the cars along the street, it provides that barrier between the moving vehicle traffic and the pedestrian activity. Here's my 6 minute video of the place across the street from the Trader Joes. In this video you'll see what is making Greenville Ave a great place and what is missing from Broadway, Slow moving Traffic and good sidewalks.
For this purpose, I'm only going to focus on Broadway and not other stroads that the Streetcar would have went down. Now the Streetcar was planning to go as far north as Josephine St, but for our purposes, we can actually include the part of Broadway as far north as Hildebrand due to the fact that my fixes won't cost $270 million and the fact that the stroad scape is the same. I've divided Broadway into three parts, (Image 19-7) the first part is the Broadway that has 7 lanes, 6 travel and one center turn lane is the Midtown Section. The part goes underneath the freeway I call the 281 section, and finally, the Downtown Section from Jones to Martin, where we have useless sharrows, narrow sidewalks and to the rest of the general public, abandon buildings. (Image 19-22)
Also for the examples, I'll be using cross sections illustrations like the one below which is how Broadway is pretty much designed today.(Image 19-8) All cross sections illustrations will face north and all lanes have been measured by me on the actual stroad in this case, Broadway. Through these cross section illustrations, I'll be demonstrating the possibilities for Broadway and use this same form for other stroads in future posts. In this cross section illustration(Image 19-8) you see the term "bus lane." For our purposes, this is a regular drive lane where you're most likely to see the bus traveling in.
Midtown Section
The Midtown section starts from Hildebrand Rd and goes to Casa Blanca. I written about this section before in other blogs such as Two accidents that didn't need to happen, and #sasidewalkssuck. Here you have 1 center turn lane, and 6 drive lanes. Much of the 5ft sidewalks in this section live up to the hashtag #sasidewalkssuck. The Streetcar would have made the sidewalks wider along this part of Broadway, at least to Josephine, and perhaps added some parking in what is now that right 10ft lane. To improve Broadway, the cheapest thing we could do to improve this stroad is to turn that right 10ft drive lane into a buffered bike lane or a protected bike lane by poles. (Image 19-9) By doing this we make it feel a little safer to walk and bicycle along by removing the fast moving traffic that is now next to the sidewalk.
The Problem with this design comes when we get to the bus stop. You see, currently if a Via bus wishes to stop along Broadway with the Cheapest concept in place, it will have to invade the buffered bike lane. So lets add a small bus stop island (Image 19-10) so the cyclist can keep cycling and the bus can stop without having to worry about running over a cyclist.
But lets face it, if we are to really improve Broadway, the way the streetcar would have done, we're going to have to remove that center turn lane and put down some on street parking. Here (Image 19-11) is what the city should be proposing to this part of Broadway. I call this the "Ideally Concept" where I reduce the number of drive lanes from Current (Image 19-8) six lanes to four lanes. I remove the center turn lane and put that space for parking on the west side of Broadway and made the sidewalks bigger. Now remember, your always looking north on my cross sections illustrations and the reason why I put the parking on the west side, (the Witte Museum side) is because that's the side on which you'll find Brackenridge Park and businesses without on street parking for the most part. I did my measurements for the Midtown Section in front of the Tuk Tuk Taproom, so all measurements are to that area, however, the Right Of Way, that's the Government property part of Broadway, gets a little bit bigger as you go further north so these things could be widen a bit.
Now to put in the bus stops with the "Ideally Concept," I put in two different versions. On the west side of Broadway, we remove the parking lane and put in a bus stop island with Shelter. (Image 19-12) For the east side, since the bus stops aren't as big like the current bus stop at Lions Field park, I've decided to go with the bus stop island being about 4ft wide.(Image 19-13) This way, no matter what side your on, you'll always have a protected bike lane without having to worry about a bus making a stop in the bike lane.
Now Traffic flow is important for this Stroad is a major thoroughfare. But we need less of the stroad and more of a famed Boulevard (BLVD) design. So reducing the number of driving lanes from six to four, we reduces the current scene of cars trying to out run each other. By reducing the travel lanes from 6 to 4 and removing the center turn lane, we also reduce the amount of distance a person on foot has to cover when they do cross Broadway from 74ft (Image 19-8) to 44ft (Image 19-12). And with the protected bike lanes, we create a safe place for both person on foot and on bike.
281 Section
This section as indicated in Image 19-7, is between Casa Blanca and Jones. It's also the section underneath the interchange of I-37/US 281and I-35. In this section, (Image 19-14) you currently have a 5ft bike lane, four 11ft drive lanes and one 10ft center turn lane. Not much improvement needs to be done to this section, for the 5ft bicycle lanes does provide some type of barrier between the traffic and the sidewalk. We could use some wider sidewalks, but as a cyclist, I don't want to give up on my bike lanes. So to do this, we need to remove that 10ft center turn lane and put that 10 ft to the sidewalks and a barrier to make a protected bike lane. We can also put in some Bus Stop Islands with out having to reduce the driving lane width and not having to reduce the walkability.
Now We've done our improvements to this Section to the street scape, we now have to figure out how to use all this green space underneath the bridges. Has anyone ever thought as this space as a city park? Up until about mid August 2014, there was a small pond that formed underneath one of the bridges (Images 19-17, 19-18) and across the stroad, you'll see a dog park (Image 19-16). Here's my question, why can't we have a bigger dog park that takes advantage of the shade that this exit ramp from I-35N to I-37S bridge produces? And this rain water created pond, back in June and July, I saw several species of birds including a pair of Black Belly Whistling ducks with a family of duckings as well as a Green Heron gorging on tadpoles, and other bug aquatic life. (Image 19-17). Currently the pond has dried up, but given another big rainstorm, it will be back.
City Parks and open space for that matter has been known for years helps with making people happier and healthier. It's that touch of nature that makes city living better. When we lack green spaces in the form of city parks, gardens and trails, we make our communities just a little bit of a dimmer place to be in and take it from me, San Antonio lacks a lot of parks for people to play and relax in.
Downtown Section
This is where the Streetcar would have served the entire section. It is also the section where even though we are pretty much in downtown, we have a bunch of abandoned buildings, or at lest to the general public, they are abandoned.(Image 19-21) It's also the section where we would have seen most of the development that the streetcar promised to delivered.(Image 19-3) But look at what is wrong with it right now, you have an abandoned street scape with narrow sidewalks, useless sharrows (Image 19-22) with places that nobody goes to unless they work there. It's pretty much a dump even though it's like two blocks from the Riverwalk Museum Reach. Now the cheapest thing we could do to improve this section of Broadway is to remove that god awful 16ft lane with the useless sharrow/parking lane (Image 19-20) and bring back the bicycle lane, but that would make it somewhat safer for us cyclist, but that's it. (Image 19-23) And this stretch of Broadway use to have bike lanes, but somebody thought that parking was more valuable, but go there on any day of the week, and tell me, who in the hell is parking on Broadway because for the most part, I barely see two vehicles, maybe three. If Spock from Star Trek said that "the needs of the many, outweigh the needs, of the few," wouldn't a painted bike lanes serve more people instead of just three or four individuals with parking spaces for a car?
Now I don't know what the street scape was going to look like with a streetcar, but my general feeling it would have looked something like this, with improved wider sidewalks.(Image 19-23)
Now we just don't need Improved sidewalks, we also need a zoning ordinances that will encourage the type of development that the streetcar would have brought, but before we play with the zoning ordinances, we need to make it a more comfortable place to be walking.
We have 76ft to play with, and we could do a whole bunch of designs, but this is where I cannot decide what is the best choice for the Downtown Section of Broadway. So the question should be asked, do you want Broadway to have flowing traffic, or do you want it to be like Greenville Ave in Dallas? You have to remember, Broadway is one of those important corridors for the city for it is sandwich between a freeway, and a military base. Now in all of my Cross Sections, I have a protected bicycle lane and that's simply because protected bike lanes bring out cyclist and reduce injury risk by 90% and from my experience of riding the one in Austin on Guadalupe St, it's way nicer than riding in traffic with useless sharrows.
The reason why they took out those bike lane in the first place back in 2011, was because there was no on street parking. Well if parking is really that necessary, then this is how The Downtown Section of Broadway should be designed. It should be designed with a Center Turn lane, two drive lanes and two parking lanes on both sides, but this design keeps the sidewalks living up to the hashtag #sasidewalkssuck.
Now here's the question, do we need parking for both sides of Broadway? If we do, then the concept you see above (Image 19-25) is what we're going to get, but if we want wider sidewalks and keep the traffic flowing, we're going to need to keep the center turn lane, and we're going to need to remove a parking lane from one side of the street. The question is, which side should that be on? For my suggestion, lets put it on the east side of Broadway and add that space that we've taken away from the parking, to the bike lanes and sidewalks. And because we've added space to the sidewalks, lets plant some trees which are lacking right now on this part of Broadway.(Image 19-26)
For the Bus stops, let's add the 4 ft bus stop islands on either side, only this time when we put it on the east side, we put the bus parking place where the parking lane is. On the West side, I simply added a bus stop island allowing for vehicles to pass in the center turn lane like they do currently on S Flores where the city council voted to remove the lanes.(Image 19-27) We don't want to switch the traffic lanes from one side to the other block by block for that would create some confusion on where to drive and it will create some bad politics that we've experience like before with S Flores.
I've just showed you how we could improve Broadway with simply changes the way we lay out the street design for Broadway. Now remember, this isn't enough, we also have to change the zoning ordinances so we can allow the development to come from the ground up and we also have to leave room for traffic flow. This is possible, but as long as we have an unwillingness to allow transformation, slowing down vehicle speeds, and putting people on foot and bicycles first over personal motor vehicles, we'll never see a great place that could be Broadway.
Images
19-1: McKinney Ave Streetcar Stop in front of the Starbucks at 3699 McKinney Ave looking Southeast
19-2: McKinney Ave Streetcar Cityplace Station looking west.
19-3: Via Metropolitan Transit Streetcar advertisement claiming about the streetcar developments it would have brought to Downtown.
19-4: Via Metropolitan Transit Bus Stop at the corner of Broadway and Fourth looking north.
19-5: The Taco Cabana at 1827 Greenville Ave, Dallas Texas looking South
19-6: The View of the large Sidewalks on Greenville Ave at Prospect Ave looking south.
19-7: Google Satellite View of Broadway with illustrations showing the different sections of Broadway.
19-8: Cross Section Illustration viewing North on Broadway that is between Casa Blanca and Hildebrand
19-9: Cross Section Illustration viewing North on Broadway having the right drive lane turned into a buffered bicycle lane (Right) or a protected bike lane (Left)
19-10: Cross Section Illustration viewing North on Broadway with a bus stop island being placed over the Buffered Bicycle lane.
19-11: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway. The Ideally Concept with 4 lanes of traffic, 1 parking lane, two 6ft protected bicycle lane and 7 1/2 ft of sidewalks on either side.
19-12: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway. The Ideally Concept with the Bus stop island on the west side of Broadway.
19-13: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway. The Ideally Concept with the bus stop on the East Side of Broadway.
19-14: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway that is between Casa Blanca and Jones.
19-15: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway. The Ideally Concept with Protected bicycle lanes and bus stop islands.
19-16: The Dog Park at the corner of Broadway and Roy Smith St looking Northwest.
19-17: The Pond During July underneath the bridge with a family of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks and a Green Heron. Viewed from Broadway eastward.
19-18: The Pond At around August 10, 2014. Viewed from Broadway eastward.
19-19: 3 Cyclist riding southbound in the bike lane on Broadway underneath 281 looking North.
19-20: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway between Martin St and Jones.
19-21: Picture of one of the buildings that looks abandoned at the corner of 6th and Broadway looking West.
19-22: Picture of one of the Sharrows on Broadway in front of the DPT parking garage viewing North
19-23: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway between Martin and Jones. My ideal concept on how Broadway would have looked if it added Modern Rail Streetcars.
19-24: A map of San Antonio illustrating how because of Fort Sam Houston and US 281, how Broadway is a "funnel" for traffic into downtown.
19-25: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway Between Martin and Jones on how it would look if they removed the 16 ft right lane and turn it into a parking lane with a protected bicycle lane.
19-26: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway Between Martin and Jones on the "Ideally Concept" would look like
19-27: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway Between Marin and Jones on the "Ideally Concept" would look like with bus stops islands at either side of Broadway.
Also, I'll be creating two new pages, one, of important meetings that cyclist or concern citizens should attend to make San Antonio a real place, and two, one of bicycling related events that are taking place in San Antonio.
Streetcar Part III, No Need for Streetcars Down Broadway.
Now lets get one thing strait, I was a streetcar supporter. Why you ask, because even this slow, lousy system would be a plus to our transit system that sucks. It would have gotten some political supporters that "choice users" bring to the transit discussion that San Antonio currently lacks, and most of all, I wouldn't have to worry about a bike rack being full especially on a rainy day for I would be able to take my bicycle aboard and not just the minimum three allowed and most of all, maybe a chance to actually get a protected bike lane on Broadway. I also felt that this was a scheme in Via's long range plan from the former CEO, Keith Parker, now in charge of Atlanta, GA MARTA in which he said, that once you build it, the people are going to change their tune from the current "rail sucks" to "when are you going to bring it to my neighborhood." I felt that after they build it, they would have eventually either expanded the system to include more of the city like out to Loop 410 with faster speeds, or put light rail back on the ballot like back in 2000.
 |
| 19-1 |
The more and more I heard about the development results of the streetcar, the more I felt that the goal of the Streetcar was based on the McKinney Ave Streetcar (Image 19-1, 19-2) in the Uptown neighborhood in Dallas which to me seems to be a place a lot like La Cantera. It was the dream of Mayor Hardberger to connect the Pearl with the rest of Downtown and the streetcar would have done that.
Back in September 2013, I went to Dallas to see the new transit service to the largest city that lacks transit service, Arlington, TX; although, what I found was disappointing, I also wanted to ride with the Dallas Critical Mass to get their opinion on how they deal with McKinney Ave Streetcar tracks for which they said they treat it like any other street with lots of pot holes.
 |
| 19-2 |
 |
| 19-3 |
That night as we rode, they took me to a place called the Truck Yard just off of Greenville Ave, and there I discovered a place that was the pinnacle of what good urbanism brings out, a First Friday every night, or at least every weekend. For those of you who don't know what First Friday is, well think of the Pearl Farmers Market is every Saturday morning. It was after that that I finally realize that we don't really need a streetcar to achieve development goal of what the Streetcar promised,(Image 19-3) but what we really need to do is create the foundation of a neighborhood that creates the conditions that makes a really happening place.
 |
| 19-4 |
Before the big sidewalks were added, Greenville was much like Broadway is currently. A stroad with fast moving, many lanes of traffic and nothing happening along it. Today, Greenville Ave is a place is much like South Alamo but with super size sidewalks. Even though S Alamo lacks the big sidewalks, the concept is virtually the same, two lanes of slow moving traffic with sidewalks protected by plants or parked vehicles, and a community that is allowed to reinvent itself. Broadway is the opposite of that with fast moving cars, multiple lanes of traffic and tiny sidewalks with no protection from traffic full of obstacles like this bus stop at Fourth and Broadway.(Image 19-4) It's a Stroad in every sense, every space for cars, not much for anything else. We also need to fix the zoning when it comes to new development and make it more flexible, such as no parking minimums with new development.
 |
| 19-5 |
 |
| 19-6 |
 |
| 19-7 |
Also for the examples, I'll be using cross sections illustrations like the one below which is how Broadway is pretty much designed today.(Image 19-8) All cross sections illustrations will face north and all lanes have been measured by me on the actual stroad in this case, Broadway. Through these cross section illustrations, I'll be demonstrating the possibilities for Broadway and use this same form for other stroads in future posts. In this cross section illustration(Image 19-8) you see the term "bus lane." For our purposes, this is a regular drive lane where you're most likely to see the bus traveling in.
Midtown Section
 |
| 19-8 |
The Midtown section starts from Hildebrand Rd and goes to Casa Blanca. I written about this section before in other blogs such as Two accidents that didn't need to happen, and #sasidewalkssuck. Here you have 1 center turn lane, and 6 drive lanes. Much of the 5ft sidewalks in this section live up to the hashtag #sasidewalkssuck. The Streetcar would have made the sidewalks wider along this part of Broadway, at least to Josephine, and perhaps added some parking in what is now that right 10ft lane. To improve Broadway, the cheapest thing we could do to improve this stroad is to turn that right 10ft drive lane into a buffered bike lane or a protected bike lane by poles. (Image 19-9) By doing this we make it feel a little safer to walk and bicycle along by removing the fast moving traffic that is now next to the sidewalk.
 |
| 19-9 |
The Problem with this design comes when we get to the bus stop. You see, currently if a Via bus wishes to stop along Broadway with the Cheapest concept in place, it will have to invade the buffered bike lane. So lets add a small bus stop island (Image 19-10) so the cyclist can keep cycling and the bus can stop without having to worry about running over a cyclist.
 |
| 19-10 |
But lets face it, if we are to really improve Broadway, the way the streetcar would have done, we're going to have to remove that center turn lane and put down some on street parking. Here (Image 19-11) is what the city should be proposing to this part of Broadway. I call this the "Ideally Concept" where I reduce the number of drive lanes from Current (Image 19-8) six lanes to four lanes. I remove the center turn lane and put that space for parking on the west side of Broadway and made the sidewalks bigger. Now remember, your always looking north on my cross sections illustrations and the reason why I put the parking on the west side, (the Witte Museum side) is because that's the side on which you'll find Brackenridge Park and businesses without on street parking for the most part. I did my measurements for the Midtown Section in front of the Tuk Tuk Taproom, so all measurements are to that area, however, the Right Of Way, that's the Government property part of Broadway, gets a little bit bigger as you go further north so these things could be widen a bit.
 |
| 19-11 |
 |
| 19-12 |
 |
| 19-13 |
Now Traffic flow is important for this Stroad is a major thoroughfare. But we need less of the stroad and more of a famed Boulevard (BLVD) design. So reducing the number of driving lanes from six to four, we reduces the current scene of cars trying to out run each other. By reducing the travel lanes from 6 to 4 and removing the center turn lane, we also reduce the amount of distance a person on foot has to cover when they do cross Broadway from 74ft (Image 19-8) to 44ft (Image 19-12). And with the protected bike lanes, we create a safe place for both person on foot and on bike.
281 Section
 |
| 19-14 |
 |
| 19-15 |
 |
| 19-16 |
 |
| 19-17 |
 |
| 19-18 |
 |
| 19-19 |
City Parks and open space for that matter has been known for years helps with making people happier and healthier. It's that touch of nature that makes city living better. When we lack green spaces in the form of city parks, gardens and trails, we make our communities just a little bit of a dimmer place to be in and take it from me, San Antonio lacks a lot of parks for people to play and relax in.
Downtown Section
 |
| 19-20 |
 |
| 19-21 |
 |
| 19-22 |
 |
| 19-23 |
Now we just don't need Improved sidewalks, we also need a zoning ordinances that will encourage the type of development that the streetcar would have brought, but before we play with the zoning ordinances, we need to make it a more comfortable place to be walking.
 |
| 19-24 |
We have 76ft to play with, and we could do a whole bunch of designs, but this is where I cannot decide what is the best choice for the Downtown Section of Broadway. So the question should be asked, do you want Broadway to have flowing traffic, or do you want it to be like Greenville Ave in Dallas? You have to remember, Broadway is one of those important corridors for the city for it is sandwich between a freeway, and a military base. Now in all of my Cross Sections, I have a protected bicycle lane and that's simply because protected bike lanes bring out cyclist and reduce injury risk by 90% and from my experience of riding the one in Austin on Guadalupe St, it's way nicer than riding in traffic with useless sharrows.
The reason why they took out those bike lane in the first place back in 2011, was because there was no on street parking. Well if parking is really that necessary, then this is how The Downtown Section of Broadway should be designed. It should be designed with a Center Turn lane, two drive lanes and two parking lanes on both sides, but this design keeps the sidewalks living up to the hashtag #sasidewalkssuck.
 |
| 19-25 |
 |
| 19-26 |
 |
| 19-27 |
I've just showed you how we could improve Broadway with simply changes the way we lay out the street design for Broadway. Now remember, this isn't enough, we also have to change the zoning ordinances so we can allow the development to come from the ground up and we also have to leave room for traffic flow. This is possible, but as long as we have an unwillingness to allow transformation, slowing down vehicle speeds, and putting people on foot and bicycles first over personal motor vehicles, we'll never see a great place that could be Broadway.
Images
19-1: McKinney Ave Streetcar Stop in front of the Starbucks at 3699 McKinney Ave looking Southeast
19-2: McKinney Ave Streetcar Cityplace Station looking west.
19-3: Via Metropolitan Transit Streetcar advertisement claiming about the streetcar developments it would have brought to Downtown.
19-4: Via Metropolitan Transit Bus Stop at the corner of Broadway and Fourth looking north.
19-5: The Taco Cabana at 1827 Greenville Ave, Dallas Texas looking South
19-6: The View of the large Sidewalks on Greenville Ave at Prospect Ave looking south.
19-7: Google Satellite View of Broadway with illustrations showing the different sections of Broadway.
19-8: Cross Section Illustration viewing North on Broadway that is between Casa Blanca and Hildebrand
19-9: Cross Section Illustration viewing North on Broadway having the right drive lane turned into a buffered bicycle lane (Right) or a protected bike lane (Left)
19-10: Cross Section Illustration viewing North on Broadway with a bus stop island being placed over the Buffered Bicycle lane.
19-11: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway. The Ideally Concept with 4 lanes of traffic, 1 parking lane, two 6ft protected bicycle lane and 7 1/2 ft of sidewalks on either side.
19-12: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway. The Ideally Concept with the Bus stop island on the west side of Broadway.
19-13: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway. The Ideally Concept with the bus stop on the East Side of Broadway.
19-14: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway that is between Casa Blanca and Jones.
19-15: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway. The Ideally Concept with Protected bicycle lanes and bus stop islands.
19-16: The Dog Park at the corner of Broadway and Roy Smith St looking Northwest.
19-17: The Pond During July underneath the bridge with a family of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks and a Green Heron. Viewed from Broadway eastward.
19-18: The Pond At around August 10, 2014. Viewed from Broadway eastward.
19-19: 3 Cyclist riding southbound in the bike lane on Broadway underneath 281 looking North.
19-20: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway between Martin St and Jones.
19-21: Picture of one of the buildings that looks abandoned at the corner of 6th and Broadway looking West.
19-22: Picture of one of the Sharrows on Broadway in front of the DPT parking garage viewing North
19-23: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway between Martin and Jones. My ideal concept on how Broadway would have looked if it added Modern Rail Streetcars.
19-24: A map of San Antonio illustrating how because of Fort Sam Houston and US 281, how Broadway is a "funnel" for traffic into downtown.
19-25: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway Between Martin and Jones on how it would look if they removed the 16 ft right lane and turn it into a parking lane with a protected bicycle lane.
19-26: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway Between Martin and Jones on the "Ideally Concept" would look like
19-27: Cross Section Illustration Viewing North on Broadway Between Marin and Jones on the "Ideally Concept" would look like with bus stops islands at either side of Broadway.
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