Bike Lanes on Horton Street Put Bikers in Danger

 Photos Reveal Public Policy Failure

There Are Not Supposed to Be Bike Lanes on Horton Street

So Why Are Lanes on the Street?

News Analysis

There's a warehouse on Horton Street with a shallow loading dock that delivery trucks back into, leaving the street partially blocked while workers unload it.  Note the photos taken today (below).  Actually there are several such loading docks on Horton Street.  They are relics from Emeryville's industrial past.  Fair enough.  But why is there a bike lane in front of a loading dock?  The bike lane gets completely blocked every time a delivery truck arrives.  Blocked bike lanes are a safety hazard to bicyclists who have to swerve out into the traffic lane to avoid the obstacle.   This erratic movement has been identified as extremely dangerous for bicyclists in numerous bike safety studies.

So why would Emeryville place bike lanes in such a place?  

Horton Street is designated as a bike boulevard.  That's a street where vehicles are allowed but bikes are preferred.  Bike boulevards are not supposed to have bike lanes.  They're instead supposed to have low vehicle volume.  In the case of Horton Street, there's supposed to be no more than 3000 vehicle trips per day.  To make sure that number is not exceeded and bicyclists are safe, the City is supposed to place traffic calming devises to divert vehicle traffic to other streets.  Businesses in Emeryville have told the City they don't want traffic calming on streets where they do business.  So the City put bike lanes on the bike boulevard rendering the designation meaningless but in so doing, they also created a public safety problem.  

The photos below are not special.  These loading docks are used every day on Horton Street.  Delivery trucks wouldn't be a problem for bicyclists if there was a real bike boulevard here (no bike lanes).   The businesses could still use their loading docks if there was a bike boulevard, but the truck drivers might have to drive a block farther to get around a diverter.  The City of Emeryville doesn't want to inconvenience these businesses even a little, even if it means putting bicyclists in danger.

When City Hall works for the business community instead of OUR community, this is the result.  Bike safety is a secondary concern over business profits in Emeryville.  These (unremarkable) photos prove it.

   

If there was very little traffic on the street, bikes
wouldn't need bike lanes and they wouldn't
have to swerve out into high volume traffic 
to avoid truck loading.  That's how it's supposed 
to work on a bike boulevard.