BUUD Alert #4

April 4, 2010

This is Bicycle-Unfriendly Urban Design (BUUD) alert #4!

Location: Portola Road (Westbound) at Farm Rd., Portola Valley CA

Issue: Bike lane squeezes from usable width (4 ft?) to zero width, entering left-hand corner at bottom of hill, on a route popular with groups of cyclists and known for the local population being intolerant of cyclists using the lane… this recent re-striping (not visible in Google Maps as of this writing) seems designed to provoke bicycle-car conflict. Given the amount of bike traffic this route (“The Loop”) gets, and the consistently wide shoulder everywhere else, this re-striping is ill conceived.

It appears that the re-striping was performed to accommodate the addition of a left-turn lane.

Solution: Put it back the way it was, let the cars wait a moment to get around those who must turn left.

I’ll post some photos next time I’m out that way.

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BUUD Alert #4 - April 4, 2010 - chad r. frost