Central City Mobility update #27

It has been a long while since I’ve posted on the Central City Mobility Project. I’ve been traveling, and backpacking, and project implementation has slowed down.

This is Central City Mobility Project update #27.

I Street is largely complete, from 21st Street to 12th Street. Part of the route is pretty standard separated bikeway, as below, but of the new bike facilities, it is the most erratic, changing design almost every block. The bikeway, at 16th Street, second below, is not a bike facility at all, but a car facility, designed to not inconvenience drivers turning right from I Street to 16th Street.

I St at 21st St separated bikeway
I St at 16th St separated bikeway across motor vehicle turn lane

The concrete turn wedges were being hit by drivers frequently (and some bicyclists), shortly after they were installed. Reflective strips were added, below, and most drivers have gotten accustomed to the turn wedges and are not hitting them, but it continues on a rarer basis. I believe that additional warning signing is going to be installed on the turn wedges, but I haven’t seen this yet.

reflective strips on concrete turn wedges

The concrete turn wedge at Q Street and 21st Street was never installed, so it may have been dropped from the plan.

The paint, not concrete, turn wedges have had K-71 green vertical delineators installed, making them somewhat more visible, and somewhat more respected by drivers. The promised rubber speed bumps have not been installed anywhere, probably a supply chain issue.

The promised bicycle signal at 21st Street and I Street is still not installed.

Though most of the separated bikeways have received green K-71 vertical delineators, a few have not.

Along P Street an added double white line has been installed on some blocks, photo below. I don’t know why, but it must be to solve some issue that was not solved by the original design.

added double white line on P St

After being mostly neglected, curb designations for loading zones and short term parking have been installed in several places. The photo below shows the white curb with added pavement stencils for a loading zone on P Street approaching 16th Street. This is probably the location that was most being abused by both delivery drivers and private vehicle drivers, so this is good to see. White curb loading zones don’t have a designated time limit, and I have seen this location abused by private vehicle drivers, which should not be here at all since this designation is for commercial loading, but it is far better than before.

curb marking and pavement message for loading zone, P St

Lastly, there seems to be new activity on 5th Street, so that part of the project may be moving forward again. I’ll check it out and post.

I have not visited the south end of 19th Street, nor the south end of 21st Street, so I don’t know if those locations have been improved. Both were a mess. I’ll try to get there and report.

Central City Mobility update K71, curbs

This is Central City Mobility Project update #18.

Flexible delineators have been installed along part of 21st Street, and are undergoing active installation this week. These K-71 posts are more substantial that the traditional vertical delineators. They can still be run over, and are run over, but since they look more substantial, drivers are less likely to run over them. They are still plastic, so provide no actual protection from errant motor vehicles; only hard curbs or true bollards (steel or concrete) can do that, but still, an improvement over earlier designs.

Central City Mobility Project, 21st St, K71 delineators
Central City Mobility Project, 21st St, K71 delineators

I don’t know how quickly the otherwise completed sections of the Central City Mobility Project will have these delineators installed. Apparently there is a US-wide shortage of materials for separated bikeways, and many cities are not able to complete their projects.

A second change since my last posting is that some parking spot paint is showing up. I had thought that parts of the striping that were still missing after quite some while were just missed, but in fact at least some of them were intended for parking regulation marking. The photo below shows a yellow curb and yellow stripe adjacent to the parking spots. I am glad to see that both the curb and the parking lane are being marked with paint. Otherwise, many drivers would fail to see, or pretend not to see, the curb color alone. This is hard to miss!

Central City Mobility Project, 21st St, yellow curb and parking marking
Central City Mobility Project, 21st St, yellow curb and parking marking

In California, painted curbs have the following meaning:

  • red – no stopping, standing, or parking
  • yellow – commercial loading and unloading (can also be used for passenger loading and unloading, unless otherwise signed)
  • white – passenger loading and unloading
  • green – limited time parking, as posted on a sign or the curb
  • blue – disabled parking (must have a license plate or temporary hanger tag)

In Sacramento, and many places in California, parking enforcement takes a laissez faire attitude towards curb colors. Except for red curbs, they are seldom enforced, and even red curb enforcement is uneven. Note that red curbs are really intended to mean what they say. If you stop there, you are in violation. A typical driver excuse for any parking violation is that they were ‘just going in for a moment’. Moments turn into minutes turn into hours, as I have observed many, many times. If you get out of your car, you are parking, no matter what the driver calls it, the law calls it parking. Parking on white and yellow curbs is a violation. Obviously commercial loading and unloading may take some time, but if there is no active loading or unloading going on, that is a violation.

I like green curbs as a solution for businesses where people pick up food and beverages. Fast food places where people order ahead. Coffee shops. My local coffee shop has a green curb right outside, and it is used for its intended purpose by some drivers. Other drivers just take it as an open free parking spot. I have reported these to city 311 as violations, but the city has not enforced so far as I am aware. More green curbs, please! (note that in the photo, the motor vehicle had just pulled into the curb, and the driver was crossing the street to pick up food at one of the businesses on the west side of 15th St; the parking meters are not functional, but the 15 minute limit is clearly posted)

green curb 15 minute parking, 15th St, Naked Lounge
green curb 15 minute parking, 15th St, Naked Lounge

Because past enforcement has been laissez faire, it will take some signing and education to make these curb colors work. Most drivers in California don’t really understand curb colors; I used to work in Nevada, and I can tell you most drivers there know exactly what they mean.

I am very pleased to see that curb colors are being more actively used in the city. Illegal parking endangers bicyclists, in particular, but also walkers and drivers. Of course something must be done to get delivery vehicles out of bike lanes and out of blocking streets and crosswalks. The city is far, far from having a plan to address that.

Other

19th St: no active work south of Q St

10th St: street being prepared for repaving and re-striping

I St: street being prepared for repaving and re-striping

5th St, 9th St: no active work

Nothing has been installed in the ‘turn wedges of death‘. I looked at the detailed design for these turn wedges (another advocate was able to obtain them), and it is still not clear what is intended for these locations. The bicycle signal at 21st and H Sts has not been installed, nor is there any sign cautioning bicyclist from using the pedestrian signal, which exposes them to high speed left turning motor vehicles.