Archived article | Original article (contains ads and trackers)
Full article text is below.
âOops, bike lane was a mistake⊠Uh, good luck turning rightâ: Commuter protests âworst cycle lane in the worldâ â which runs down the middle of the road and was designed âjust to save 20 parking spotsâ â with homemade signs
From the boulevards of Paris to the sunny streets of San Francisco⊠Never say I donât take you anywhere on the live blog.
Well, over in San Fran (thatâs what they call it, isnât it?), a controversial cycle lane â which runs, for some reason, up the middle of a main city street â and the âdangerous, ridiculousâ construction signs which currently run along it, have inspired one bike riding commuter to install her own, cutting bike lane signs. Valencia Street cycle lane signs 4 (Danielle Baskin)
The new cycle lane on the Californian cityâs Valencia Street runs down the middle of the road, with traffic passing on either side.
Cyclists using it are protected by the odd plastic bollard and small rubber kerbs. They have also had to, for the last three months, navigate the large construction signs currently lining the centre of the bike lane for its duration.
Mission Local reports (link is external) that plans for the cycle lane were approved, despite lukewarm support, in a bid to avoid removing delivery spaces on either side of the road. As the bike lane has been built, several cyclists have crashed â including into the signs â and traffic experts have been scathing of the scheme (link is external), describing it as âan abominationâ and the âworst infrastructure I have ever seen anywhere in the worldâ.
Over the past week â in a bid to highlight the absurdity of the cycling âinfraâ â a local cyclist has launched her own protest by swapping out the much-derided constructions signs with satirical ones of her own making. Valencia Street cycle lane signs (Dylan Hunn, Twitter)
Nine new signs appeared along the cycle path last week, each highlighting the problems with the laneâs layout.
âUh, good luck turning right,â read one, while another said: âLOL IDK how you will merge.â
Others included: âWe regret this bike laneâ, âGood luck cyclistsâ, âLMAO We didnât think this thruâ, âIf fire truck comes IDKâ, and ââOops bike lane was a mistakeâ.
The anonymous jokester, who commutes on Valencia Street every day, told the local paper that she installed the homemade messages because she finds the original signs âpretty ridiculousâ.
âTheyâre an obstruction to cyclists, and also extremely confusing,â she said, noting that on one of her rides she saw one of the signs cracked in half after a cyclist hit it. That inspired her to make slogans lampooning the âdangerousâ nature of the signs themselves. Valencia Street cycle lane signs 3 (Danielle Baskin)
Explaining her âgood luck turning rightâ sign, she said: âIf you have a green light and the cars have a green light, thereâs this little square you have to wait in, but you donât have much time. You have to make eye contact with drivers and let them let you make a right turn.â
Meanwhile, her fire truck-related sign was a result of the local authorityâs decision to also make the cycle lane the designated lane for emergency services.
âImagine youâre on your bike and thereâre cars on both sides, and then the fire truck comes down. Where do you go?â she asked. Valencia Street cycle lane signs 2 (Danielle Baskin)
Despite encountering some opposition from the local authority â who promptly took the signs down â the cyclist returned over the weekend to keep spreading the message.
âUltimately, I donât think itâs the best vision for Valencia Street,â she said of the much-maligned cycling infra.
âThey did all this just to save 20 parking spots. Itâs frustrating because Valencia would be such a nice street, if the focus was on bikes and pedestrians.â
lol, who came up with that idea and who checked it if this was a good idea? I hope those people are not in charge of other basic street regulations.
SSL_ERROR_NO_CYPHER_OVERLAP when trying to access the archived version
Hmm⊠I tested it in a private window, and it seems to be working now (on my end). Is anyone else still having problems?