I was on my way westward from downtown, on Sunday afternoon, and wound up on the "multi-user" "path" that runs along Scott Street. Coming off Bronson, you hang a left (with a convenient advance green) onto Scott - or is it still Albert at that point? - and after about a block a pathway appears on the right, which is pretty easy to just deke onto. Except that you cruise along for about 20 seconds, and come across this:
By the time you've realized that your path has turned into sidewalk and you're supposed to be walking your bike, you're already on it (and cruising right through the waiting area in front of a bus shelter.) In fact, as you can tell from the direction I'm facing - looking back eastward - that's exactly what happened to me.
And then again (you can't see, but the two-way path starts up again just past the bus shelter in the distance):
And then again:
Every time there's an intersection, you get twenty feet or so of non-path sidewalk, signposted to tell you to walk your bike, and a pedestrian crossing, which you're not legally allowed to ride through.
And five seconds' pedalling later the path disappears entirely and you have to hop the curb into the street, in a bus bay (not busy now, but this street at rush hour is a madhouse) ...
Now, I understand that you're supposed to get off and walk your bike. I understand that that's the law. But be honest, who does that? Get off the bike, walk it forty feet, stop, get back on, pedal for six to ten seconds, stop, get off the bike, walk it another forty feet, pedal another six to ten seconds, stop, walk across an intersection, get back on... you get the idea. It's not that it's impossible: it's just that it's a little like asking a pedestrian to stop and crawl every minute or so. It's extremely, extremely inconvenient.
And yet there's a path there, and it's marked as a bike path, and I'd much rather use it than the speedy and busy (albeit wide) street beside me. There's got to be a better way to arrange things along this stretch of street - it would be great to have an easy car-free corridor westwards from downtown, when your next direct east/west street is probably, what, Somerset? Crowded, old, sketchy Somerset?
I rode that path a couple times. *eyeroll* indeed. Who ever designed that "bike" path is hopefully no longer employed at city hall. Why didn't they make the path go behind the bus shelters? It's not like there's anything built there anyways.
ReplyDeleteShaun
Agreed, I live right next to that path and I never use it because during my commute time there's always people waiting for the bus. That whole path is absolutely useless.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a path somewhere in the wilds between Scott and the river, that goes through the empty fields of Lebreton Flats, but it's so completely impossible to find from downtown that I've only ever really been on it once or twice.
ReplyDeleteWhat cracks me up, too, is that they built this boneheaded path, and it's not like they didn't think about the fact that they were failing to either make a sidewalk or a bike path: cause they put up those perky little "walk your bike" signs *everywhere.* Someone actually thought that was a good idea.
...and of course if you ride in the traffic lane you'll have motorists complaining that you aren't using the "bike lane" created for that purpose.
ReplyDeleteSomeone at the roadworks department needs to see this and give their head a good shake.
I'd love to get a bunch of "WTF?" signs and bolt them below the "walk your bike" signs
ReplyDeleteI love the painted bike lanes that end at sidewalks. If you follow them you would slam into the curb! I love the one going north over the bronson bridge at the canal. Lane ends, then appears in the next lane at the left and then slams into a sidewalk 50 feet later - never to appear again. Presumably, you are not supposed to bike on Bronson going North - but I do it just out of spite.
ReplyDelete