[bikeqld] Re: Miskin St crossing (was Re: info (missing)
aboutbikeways)
Michael Yeates
michael at yeatesit.biz
Fri Sep 18 00:50:51 CDT 2009
Exactly ...
It actually won IEAust (I think) Award/s ...
until recently (perhaps still) displayed in
framed glory where I have seen it/them ...
somewhere at Main Roads or QT HQs ...!
One "solution" would be to make the roundabout
non-standard so it has only a ONE LANE exit ...
and get rid of the two lane exit problem
altogether. The roundabout works OK most of the
day ... except peak hours when it is stuffed ie
congested, anyway ... so if MR really is becoming
"cyclist friendly" why worry about intersection
capacity, just make it safer for all.
As it turned out I had to go across to Bardon to
collect a large bit of gear early this afternoon
so I took a little time to have a look at the
latest "best possible" at both Dean and at Miskin
... and would you believe, while I was there
having a look, three blokes walking crossed Dean
Street at the crossing "refuge" and were walking
towards the "new" altered footpath and would have
reached the blind corner at the same time as a
cyclist who was belting outbound along the new
"green lane" ... except that he did what I expect
many would and will do, left the green lane and
went straight out the entry crossing and crossed
at speed to the entry to the path into the park
... and was gone ... no fuss ... and MUCH safer
and easier AND quicker than following the "designed" route ...!
So why is it designed like it is?
It is designed for pedestrians. It is located for
pedestrians. It is NOT located for cyclists and
it is not designed for cyclists.
Perhaps somebody in BCC ATU or BQ (and who knows
how bikes actually travel) should point out that
cyclists find it pretty difficult to turn at
right angles on about 1m radius ... made worse if
you have to look behind you not just at right
angles ... to see if any traffic is coming up behind you in the adjacent lane.
Ah well "When will they ever learn?" seems an appropriate theme ...!
An idea though might be to invite Cr Matic of
Toowong Ward to cycle through there ...???
Start from say somewhere near the Jephson Street
and Sylvan Road traffic lights and cycle through
to Mt Coot-tha Gardens would be a good test ... even better on the way back.
MY................
At 01:41 PM 18/09/2009, Glen Fergus wrote:
>You can imagine the sequence. Overworked DMR
>Met Branch functionary briefly eyeballs Council
>drawing and says yeah, fine. Then the thing
>actually gets built and the complaints start to
>roll in. Maybe even a Ministerial. "Sh.t, rip
>it up, now!" So it's in Council's too hard
>basket until when, exactly? Five years now, I think.
>
>The real problem here isn't Council's bikeway
>crossing, it's DMR's intersection design. When
>I briefly studied traffic engineering at UQ
>decades ago, this brand new two lane roundabout
>was considered absolute bee's knees. Doubt
>anyone would be so stupid now. A signalised
>intersection would function much better, and be
>much more urban-friendly. I suspect there'd be
>room for exclusive left and right lanes on
>Milton outbound, avoiding the high speed left
>turn rear-ender at the bikeway. There could be
>some increased storage inbound on the freeway, but stuff 'em.
>
>Now that Northlink no longer touches this
>perhaps something will actually get
>done. That's assuming the Trans Apex tunnel
>from here to Dutton Park is finally dead and
>buried. (Have to be, wouldn't it, when you've
>just sunk $1B of ratepayer's readies into the
>other tunnel? "No direct cost to Council...")
>
>G.
>
>
>----------
>From: bikeqld-bounces at bikeqld.org.au
>[mailto:bikeqld-bounces at bikeqld.org.au] On Behalf Of kim
>Sent: Friday, 18 September 2009 12:32 PM
>To: bikeqld at bikeqld.org.au
>Subject: RE: [bikeqld] Re: Miskin St crossing
>(was Re: info (missing) aboutbikeways)
>
>Thanks Ian for separating that one out, I think
>I probably got carried away in my last rant about Council :) .
>I pointed out to Council that this crossing
>point was in MR jurisdiction as they control 50m
>up the side roads including Miskin St. They said
>that they had got the nod from MR which really
>leaves you wondering how that was the case. I
>was actually a bit surprised when I saw what was
>really a traffic calming measure on this road
>and now more surprised that Council did not
>think it out. It's kinda ironic too that now
>they have a fresh black crossing there, and have
>widened the refuge, that cars still think they
>need to stop if they see a bike on the refuge or
>heading for it. I would advise cyclists to watch
>their situation if cars do stop and then beckon
>them across just in case the car does get rear
>ended, the motorist might claim that the cyclist
>was shooting out in front of them. That two into
>one lane is bad on an intersection that size too.
>The little dog leg to go from the crossing
>point(s) to the contra flow green lane is not
>nice, its a bit off camber and has some trees
>which shed over it creating a slippery condition
>for that sharp angle. As Michael Y pointed out,
>forcing all the cycles on the blind side of the
>left turning buses (they go left then around the
>roundabout and back up miskin to turn right into
>the depot) is a bad move. Most cyclists I have
>seen just go diagonal onto the green but it
>looks like there is an obstructing build out
>from the kerb there planned. The whole thing
>seemed to just stop after they put that traffic
>calm 'in the wrong place'. I think by rights the
>green is supposed to have an edge line too.
>Right now it is not apparent at night.
>
> > Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:55:33 +1000
> > From: list-bikeqld at lister.dnsalias.net
> > To: bikeqld at bikeqld.org.au
> > Subject: [bikeqld] Re: Miskin St crossing
> (was Re: info (missing) about bikeways)
> >
> > P.S. for anybody not familiar with the area, here's what we're talking
> > about:
> >
> > http://www.bikeqld.org.au/wiki/Image:Miskin_Street_crossing_August_2009.jpg
> >
> http://www.bikeqld.org.au/wiki/Image:Miskin_Street_crossing_September_2009.jpg
> >
> http://www.bikeqld.org.au/wiki/North_Toowong_corridor#Crossing_of_Miskin_Street
> >
> > On Thu, 17 Sep 2009, Ian Lister wrote:
> > > On Wed, 16 Sep 2009, kim wrote:
> > > [snip]
> > >> One last note, I did ask about the Toowong bus depot/Miskin St design.
> > >> I asked what happened there. They told me that the red traffic
> > >> calming/crossing point "was put in the wrong place".
> > > [snip]
> > >
> > > Funnily enough, after a few attempts I had
> somebody at Council call me back
> > > about this this morning, and was told it was a "residential area entry
> > > treatment" and caused problems because
> motorists got confused and started
> > > giving way to cyclists on it (perish the
> thought). This was reported to have
> > > lead to near-accidents as other motorists
> going (nearly) too fast for the
> > > unexpected almost ran up the back of them.
> > >
> > > The officer I spoke to (in the transport
> infrastructure unit) also indicated
> > > there were no further plans to improve this
> crossing, not even the holding
> > > rails that Cr Magub promised would be
> restored however many (three?) years
> > > ago that it is now. If anybody else here thinks this crossing needs some
> > > improvement, I suggest you give Council a
> call (3403 8888) and let them know.
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > >
> > > Ian
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > bikeqld mailing list
> > bikeqld at bikeqld.org.au
> > http://www.bikeqld.org.au/
> > http://www.bikeqld.org.au/mailman/listinfo/bikeqld
> > This list has NO affiliation with Bicycle Queensland.
>
>
>----------
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