Land Park & Broadway construction zone issues

2024/04/10 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

A new development is under construction on the southeast corner of Land Park Drive and Broadway, the historical site of Tower Records and Tower Books. I am glad to see development, particularly housing, happening here after the lot sitting empty for a bit more than a year. The project name is either Land Park & Broadway, or Tower Broadway. The project description from the City of Sacramento Agency Counter site is:

“MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING/MIX USE – New Five (5) story mixed use development consisting of ground floor retail within a concrete podium and (4) floors of for-rent apartments above. Studios: 39; 1 Bedrooms: 19; 2 Bedrooms: 10”

However, the construction site has several violations of ADA and PROWAG.

The crosswalk over Broadway at 16th Street is closed by a construction fence on the south side. However, there is no detectable warning barrier on the north side, only a sidewalk closed sign with, being on a folding barricade, is a trip hazard, and the pedestrians signal is not covered so that someone with limited vision would know the crosswalk is closed.

photo of Broadway at 16th St closed crosswalk not ADA compliant — Broadway at 16th St closed crosswalk not. ADA compliant

The same problem exists for the crosswalk over Land Park Drive, inappropriate signing posing a tripping hazard, lack of detectable barrier, and pedestrian signal face not covered.

photo of Land Park Dr at Broadway closed crosswalk, not ADA compliant — *Land Park Dr at Broadway closed crosswalk, not ADA compliant*

On the east side of Land Park Drive approaching the construction site, there is no detectable barrier, signing is placed so that it blocks access to the bus stop, and the construction fence intrudes into the sidewalk. Note that the pedestrian detour sign is not required and probably does nothing to help people walking.

photo of Land Park Dr closed sidewalk, not ADA compliant — *Land Park Dr closed sidewalk, not ADA compliant*

Getting a little closer, you can see that there is a bus stop for which access has been blocked by the construction signing. The bus stop is no longer accessible to anyone with mobility issues. I just talked to a SacRT employee, who said they had received no communication from either the city or the construction company about this blockage. SacRT will consider temporarily moving the bus stop. The construction company could have placed fencing and signing to maintain access to the stop, with a detectable barrier beyond the stop, but they did not. I suspect the city didn’t even notice this in their Traffic Control Plan. The city generally accepts whatever the construction company writes, without field checking it. It is well known that the city and most construction companies consider walkers and transit users as unimportant.

photo of Land Park Dr no bus stop access — *Land Park Dr no bus stop access*

I did not check ADA compliance on the Broadway sidewalk approaching this construction site from the east, but would expect to see similar problems there.

While walking Broadway today, I noticed that two construction projects which were reported to the city (311) months ago have not been corrected. So far as I can tell, the city stopped inspecting or enforcing construction sites and Traffic Control Plans months ago.

construction violation on 6th St

2024/01/23 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

You may be getting tired of these posts on construction zone failures to accommodate walkers and bicyclists, to to comply with ADA regulations. Well, I’m getting tired of the City of Sacramento Public Works Department completely failing at its responsibility to protect people walking and bicycling. I wonder why it falls to the public to report these issues, rather than to city employees whose job it is to take care of these things. Maybe they should not have their jobs.

This most recently noticed problem is on the east side of 6th Street between I Street and Improv Alley. The building is Riverview Plaza Apartments, a Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) housing, and the project is apparently Riverview Plaza Rehabilitation Project. This construction is not on the city’s AgencyCounter website, perhaps because SHRA is a city/county partnership and assumes it does not need to inform the public.

The sidewalk on the east side of 6th Street is completely blocked by construction. At I Street, there is no advance warning of the sidewalk being closed ahead. At the closure, southbound, there is a chainlink fence, which is not a detectable barrier, and no sidewalk closed sign. The construction extends to the curb, including the sidewalk buffer. From the south, there is no advance warning of the sidewalk being closed ahead, either at Improv Alley or at J Street. At the closure, there is a scaffolding, which is not a detectable barrier, and a small paper sidewalk closed sign, not compliant with CA-MUTCD or PROWAG. At the time I walked past, there were two delivery vehicles double-parked on the street, so even if a person wanted to walk around the closure, they would be forced out into traffic on 6th Street. This situation is a complete failure on the part of the construction company, and the city.

photo of SHRA construction on 6th St, no advance warning, no sign on chainlink fence — *SHRA construction on 6th St, no advance warning, no sign on chainlink fence*

SHRA construction on 6th St, scaffolding as barrier, non-compliant paper sidewalk closed sign

reason #937 against diagonal ramps

2024/01/23 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

On the northwest corner of 9th Street and Capitol Mall, the construction project on the east side, Jesse Unruh State Office Building Renovation, has closed the sidewalk on the northeast corner, and therefore the crosswalk over 9th Street north side. In general, the construction project has done a good job of signing and barriers to comply with ADA. State projects, though not perfect, are more likely to be compliant with ADA than any of the city or private projects.

photo of 9th St & Capitol Mall NW difficult corner — *9th St & Capitol Mall NW difficult corner*

There should be a barrier across the crosswalk at this location, to indicate that the crosswalk is closed and the opposite side inaccessible. There is a barrier, and the correct sign, but the barrier is not blocking the crosswalk. But it can’t! If the barrier were placed to block this crosswalk, it would also block the crosswalk over Capitol Mall, which is not a closed crosswalk. That is just one of the things wrong with diagonal ramps. They make it impossible to correctly place barriers and signing for closed crosswalks and sidewalks.

Two actions could make this better. One, cover the pedestrian countdown signal so that it is not visible, and therefore subject to misunderstanding by limited vision walkers. But this would only be safe if, two, the crosswalk were completely blocked by barriers, and a temporary ramp to the Capitol Mall crosswalk placed, to the right of the barriers.

Diagonal ramps are now illegal everywhere via PROWAG, but of course existing diagonal ramps do not need to be corrected unless the corner is subject to modification for other reasons. The city has known for years that diagonal ramps are poor practice, but has continued to build them, or allow them to be built. And sadly, has even allowed illegal ramps to be built: serious concerns about Broadway.

Posts related to the work zone guidelines are linked via category ‘Work Zones‘ within City of Sacramento category. Posts about construction project issues, previous to and after the release of the draft guidelines, of which there are a huge number, are linked via tag ‘construction zone‘ within Active Transportation category.

16th & E construction uncorrected

2024/01/232024/01/23 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

The construction project at 16th Street & E Street, southwest corner, 500 16th Street, apparently called Studio 30, an affordable apartment complex, still has not corrected its significant flaws in ADA signing and barriers. An earlier post covered the difficulty in properly signing and routing due to the city’s mistake in prohibiting crossing on the north side of the 16th Street and F Street intersection: SacCity bad work zone and bad street design converge.

I reported the ADA violations on January 3, 2024. I checked the project today, 20 days later. Nothing has been corrected. Every violation of ADA standards, which is basically every one, is the same as it was. Apparently the city has decided not to follow up on my 311 report, or the construction company has decided not to correct anything. This is sad.

One thing I noticed today that I had not noticed last time is detour signs on the northeast corner of E Street & 15th Street. The sign directions are nonsensical. The signs may have once been set correctly, but if so, they have been moved, and now communicate incorrect information. This is what happens when signs are placed and then not monitored, by the city and by the construction company.

photo of E St 15th St NE confusing detour signs — *E St 15th St NE confusing detour signs*

The folding barricades used around this project (which are trip hazards) are labeled with JVB, for JVB Construction Management. I have more recently been paying more attention to who places the construction signs and barriers. This is the first project I’ve noticed by this company, not surprising since it is a southern California company. From now on when I blog about work zone failures, I will do my best to identify who is responsible. Of course it is not just the construction company that is responsible, the city is also responsible.

SacCity work zone problems on Broadway

2024/01/042024/01/21 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

I walked a long section of Broadway today, and came across two construction projects that close sidewalks without proper and safe signing and barricades.

‘Dental Clinic Remodel’

I put this one in quotes because it is a building that has been abandoned for years, but is apparently now under construction. Construction for this half-block building on the north side of Broadway between 23rd and 22nd Streets has closed sidewalks on both 23rd and 22nd. For 23rd, there is some signing, but also a non-detectable chainlink fence and trips hazard folding barricade. As with many other construction projects, a sign on hand, the bicycle/pedestrian detour sign (MUTCD M4-9a), was used though it is not required or appropriate. The sidewalk closed ahead cross here (MUTCD R9-11) is a valid sign, but the wrong location. The sidewalk is closed HERE, not ahead, so the correct sign is sidewalk closed cross here (MUTCD R9-11a).

photo of work zone violation at Broadway and 23rd St, wrong sign, non-detectable barricade — work zone violation at Broadway and 23rd St, wrong sign, non-detectable barricade

At the corner of Broadway and 22nd Street, there is no sign at all, and the same non-detectable chainlink fence used as a barricade.

photo of work zone violation at Broadway and 22nd St, no sign and non-detectable barricade — work zone violation at Broadway and 22nd St, no sign, non-detectable barricade

I did not check on the north side of these sidewalk closures, but I would assume the signing and detectability is the same or worse.

more Sac failure to properly mark/sign ADA for construction

2023/01/192023/07/10 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

Note: This post was developed in October 2022 but not posted at that time due to an oversight. It is still useful.

There is a new construction project at N St & 14th St in the Sacramento central city, opposite Capitol Park. The project, called Cypress, is a CADA project for multi-family housing, but I do not know the lead construction company. The site has been fenced along N St and 14th St (address is 1330 N St), and across Neighbors Alley. Along N St, the sidewalk is closed at the project, and the crosswalk over 14th St is closed at the southeast corner. Along 14th St, the crosswalk over N St is closed at the north side, and the sidewalk is closed at a property south of the alley.

As is usual for a project permitted by the City of Sacramento, either the traffic control plan was written to allow violation of ADA, or the company has not followed the plan. Or both.

The photos below show the failures.

construction barrier not ADA at 14th St crosswalk — 14th St at N St crosswalk, southeast corner, construction barrier not ADA

At this location, the barrier is not ADA compliant. The bottom bar must be no more than six inches from the ground, at bottom, so that it is detectable by a person using a cane. The barrier footing is a trip hazard for both unsighted and sighted persons.

construction barrier not ADA at N St crosswalk — N St croswalk at 14th St, construction barrier not ADA

why are bike lane gaps so important?

2022/09/16 Dan Allison1 Comment

My last three posts have been about locations where sharrows replace bike lanes for one-block sections in the Sacramento central city: Sacramento’s worst possible place for sharrows; Sac kill those sharrows on I St; Sac kill those sharrows on H St. There may well be other such locations that did not come to mind. If so, please let me know so I can document and post on them. I’m not asking about locations that should have bike lanes, or where bike lanes should be upgraded to separated (protected) bikeways. There are simply too many of those locations for me to deal with.

So, why are bike lane gaps so important? Bike lanes are basically a promise to bicyclists that the city is providing a safe place to ride your bike. Yes, I know traditional bike lanes have serious safety issues (they are called door zone bike lanes, or DZBLs), but for the average rider, they are safer than no bike lane. But this promise is broken when there is a gap. For these gap sections, bicyclists who felt comfortable riding in a bike lane are suddenly left to deal with motor vehicle traffic in a location where neither the bicyclist nor drivers are sure how to behave. What does the average bicyclist then do? Decide never to ride on that street again. And if they have a scary experience, they may even decide not to ride again at all.

I’m a bicyclist with strong vehicular bicycling skills. I know where the safest place to ride is on every street, and I ride there no matter what motor vehicle drivers or law enforcement happens to think about it. But I am far, far from a typical Sacramento bicyclist. I am ‘strong and fearless’, though as I get older, I’m tending towards ‘enthused and confident’. The four types of bicyclists, or levels of comfort, developed in Portland but applicable to Sacramento, are shown in the graphic:

four types of bicyclists and levels of comfort diagram

The city should be designing bicycle facilities that work for all three categories of people who will bicycle. When there is a gap in a bike lane, the city has designed bicycle facilities that serve the ‘strong and fearless’, only 7% of potential bike riders. This is discriminatory. It is wrong. I suspect that with the resurgence of bicycling and the availability of e-bikes, the ‘no way, no how’ category has shrunk a bit.

The city must close bike lane gaps. Not off in the future when the street is repaved, or when a grant is obtained, but NOW. To do otherwise is to intentionally discourage bicycling and to risk people’s lives.

and bike lane blockages

2022/03/24 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

Here is one example (of many) of a bike lane blocked by construction, on J Street between 10th Street and 11th Street in Sacramento. There is a major construction project on the south side in the eastern half of the block for a new apartment building. I’ve written about this issue before: J Street needs construction bypass. As construction progresses, the barriers around the site have moved closer to and further from J Street. The last time I was there, only the parking lane (and of course sidewalk) was blocked, but today, the bike lane is blocked again.

J Street bike lane pinches out at construction barrier

There are no signs along J Street warning of the closure ahead, and there is no ‘share the road’ sign. The commonly used, but not official MUTCD or CA-MUTCD, ‘bicycle share the road’ sign is below. This is, at minimum, the sign that should be installed here.

The solution is to either get the construction company to pull the barrier back from the street, returning the bike lane to function, or for a bike lane to replace the right hand travel lane. Since the sidewalk is also blocked, the accommodation can also serve walkers. As you can see from the photo, the left hand general purpose lane is already blocked for a utility work project. That would result in one lane for an unknown period of time, though the utility project seems to be going fairly quickly and might be done within a couple of weeks or less. The city should do a better job of scheduling construction projects so that they aren’t going on both sides of a busy street at the same time!

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Category: construction zone