Monday, April 27, 2009

Yay Woodside! -- wait, Woodside?!?

After years of being mostly hostile to cyclists, Woodside has suddenly made a dizzying number of improvements to its roads. Perhaps if I were some kind of citizen journalist, and/or had some free time, I'd find out who was responsible for this. Thanks to the Redwood City Bicycle Pedestrian Committee (which I helped found, back when I had time) for passing this on.


April has been a month of bike safety progress in Woodside! Since the Peninsula Committee's Woodside Ride on April 4th:
1) Caltrans reduced the speed limit from 40 to 35 mph on westbound Woodside Rd (Hwy 84) approaching the I-280 intersection This is the area where Michelle Mazzei was run down and killed by a motorist in October 2005.
NOW
2) With TDA funding, Woodside reconfigured the westbound bike lane on Woodside Rd approaching the Canada Rd intersection so that straight-through cyclists are not channeled to the right of the right-turn-only lane.
Before BEFORE
NOW
3) With the same TDA funding, Woodside extended the NO PARKING red curb along the eastbound Woodside Rd bike lane (east of the Canada Rd intersection). The bike lane is now 12 feet wide where parking is permitted east of the landscaped triangle.
BEFORE
NOW
4) In another TDA-funded project, Woodside replaced a depressed drain grate in the westbound Woodside Rd bike lane west of Buck's Restaurant with a flush, at-grade solid plate. Cyclists now have one fewer obstacles to navigate. (They can now concentrate on getting around the cars that park in the bike lane, legally. Unthinking cyclists frequently choose to park in the bike lane when they go for a ride.)
BEFORE
NOW
5) Woodside has diagonally striped the northbound shoulder of Portola Rd between Sand Hill and Mountain Home Roads to inform cyclists and motorists alike that the shoulder is not a bike lane. There is a steep-walled drainage ditch adjacent to the shoulder. This stretch of Portola Road is a shared roadway.
BEFORE
NOW

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