Broadway bicyclist press the button

Additional posts on Broadway Complete Streets are available at category ‘Broadway Complete Streets‘.

The bicycle signal face for Broadway eastbound at Land Park Drive/16th Street did not work for several weeks after it was turned on. Then it was ‘fixed’ so that it was part of every signal cycle. Now it has been further ‘fixed’ by the installation of a beg button which the bicyclist must press to trigger the bicycle signal. The beg button is the standard pedestrian button, it says nothing about bicyclists.

This signal should detect bicyclists and trigger the bicycle phase, without requiring any action by the bicyclist.

This is yet another example of the incompetence of city traffic engineers, who not only cannot design a signal that works properly, but will actively make things worse for bicyclists. Their concern is foremost, and only, with the free flow of motor vehicle traffic.

Bike signal for Broadway eastbound requires button push

2 thoughts on “Broadway bicyclist press the button

  1. As a driver, I can tell you that they also failed to make car traffic flow freely, specifically from northbound land Park Drive, the only side of the intersection which did NOT have lane reductions! The signal phase is simply too short. This does not seem to have any relation to the bike and foot traffic changes, so I’m at a loss for the reason.

    At the corner you mention, they also ought to have used more conventional red/green arrows (separate arrows for straight and right) on the conventional signal heads. The special, fancy, and rarely illuminated “No right turn” signboard is mounted high and centrally; not a direction that a driver looks when turning right. When it is on, it is flatly contradictory with the solid green signal; it is a deeply dissonant experience from behind the wheel.

    Rather than the product of thoughtful problem solving, the whole intersection seems performative and cargo-cultish.

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