Pima County has installed two speed tables and signage near the intersection of Sunrise Drive and Skyline Drive where cyclist Patricia Lyon-Surrey was killed last year. What do you think? would you recommend the county does more to enhance the safety of this intersection?
Well, sure. The county could have done a lot of things better, but nothing cheaper. Except nothing.
Cars do this move all the time on Interstate frontage roads where merge lanes cross through lanes. It’s car against car, though, and here I think a different perspective is appropriate for bike vs. car.
I say divert bike traffic after the intersection on a path across the island to meet the merge lane perpendicularly and then stop. Cyclists can determine safety, cross and continue on the right side of the merge lane. Widening the merge lane would probably be required. I think the way it is, motorists are determining the level of safety for bicycles too much.
Damion, what’s it like to ride over them? Most cyclists carry a lot of speed coming from Skyline onto Sunrise here.
Horrible idea. Poor planning. The problem here is drivers attentiveness and situational awareness. What these tables have done is to give another distraction to pull the drivers eyes and attention away from the presence of a cyclist. This is among the worst possible decisions Pima County could have made.
The county built the road intersection with the single-minded objective to serve cars – with a sweeping turn intended to allow cars to maintain their speed. It is a 1970’s road design solution.
Today, we understand how dangerous this kind of road intersection is for bicyclists and pedestrians. The County put a bandaid on a major wound already demonstrated to be more serious. Re-alignment of the road to a 90 degree intersection with a stop sign would put the bikes and pedestrians into the view of drivers as they are legally bound to come to a stop. Drivers would be delayed maybe 5 seconds from the current road design. It would cost more than the bandaid but what has the existing road design already tragically cost the victim, their family and the public?