San Jose street sweepers

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Teodoro Cipresso

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Aug 4, 2022, 5:38:58 PM8/4/22
to SVBC San Jose Team
Hi all.  Do we know how often the city of San Jose runs the street sweepers? Did they recently stop doing it? Their website claims 1x month.  If that were true, I shouldn't be riding through the same glass, rocks, and plastic car shavings in the bike lane for several months in a row.  I'm not talking about protected bike lanes, so these should be swept easily.  https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments/transportation/roads/street-sweeping.  Thanks, --Ted


Mikhail Haurylau

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Aug 5, 2022, 11:47:30 AM8/5/22
to SVBC San Jose Team
I also have a stretch of road on Tasman which seems like not been swept in ages, even after all my complaining to SJ and Milpitas.

It may be time for some "guerilla reconnaissance" ;) Just like Parking Compliance marks car tires to see if they were parked too long, could we mark the bike lanes? 

We can use something like this - it is bright, should be easily swept, not too slippery, and relatively environmentally behigh...

image.png
 

On Thu, Aug 4, 2022 at 2:39 PM Teodoro Cipresso <teodoro....@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all.  Do we know how often the city of San Jose runs the street sweepers? Did they recently stop doing it? Their website claims 1x month.  If that were true, I shouldn't be riding through the same glass, rocks, and plastic car shavings in the bike lane for several months in a row.  I'm not talking about protected bike lanes, so these should be swept easily.  https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments/transportation/roads/street-sweeping.  Thanks, --Ted


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Teodoro Cipresso

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Aug 5, 2022, 4:46:16 PM8/5/22
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Hehe, I like your idea :) Reminds me of when, for several months, there was a ~20ft stretch of brightly colored mixed drink fruit skewers in the bike lane on Santa Teresa blvd.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/bikesiliconvalley.org/d/msgid/sanjose/CAFG5hbqsdzieNyhQJNu4WRxien%2B67%2B5uEqj_8t7KbWn_%3DOu4Uw%40mail.gmail.com.

Kevin Wang

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Aug 7, 2022, 3:23:10 PM8/7/22
to SVBC San Jose Team
I carry a small broom and dustpan to clean up broken glass in the bike lane. Street sweeping can never come soon enough.

My next plan is to investigate battery powered leaf blowers, test how effectively they can clean some of the unmaintained paths around here. An electric hedge clipper would also be great for trimming the weeds within a foot of the path. I just need to find one to borrow before I plunk down several hundred for said tools. The trick is how powerful they are will determine how fast I can roll down the bike path and perform said maintenance. During spring, the weeds grow so fast!

   - Kevin

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/bikesiliconvalley.org/d/msgid/sanjose/CAP_Gcq2Jc2GygAMQ58oJdL-jKP7PR%3DabdGCZbOAJWhkETNt2NQ%40mail.gmail.com.

buki wilson

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Aug 7, 2022, 3:26:24 PM8/7/22
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Kevin,

That’s curious because the DOT had advised me that can’t keep cars and box vans out of their lanes because of street sweeping:

separated bikeways must be at least 7' wide to allow our bikeway-specific sweeper to fit in the bikeway (narrow cars can sneak in that area and block the bikeway) - SJDOT 

Buki 
From: san...@bikesiliconvalley.org <san...@bikesiliconvalley.org> on behalf of Kevin Wang <k...@leftsock.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 7, 2022 12:22:57 PM
To: SVBC San Jose Team <san...@bikesiliconvalley.org>
Subject: Re: [SAN JOSE] San Jose street sweepers
 

Kevin Wang

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Aug 7, 2022, 3:34:25 PM8/7/22
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What I mean by "street sweeping can never come soon enough" is that you might wait up to 6 days before the street sweepers come along, if you assume they come weekly. That's still too many days to clean up a road hazard. i.e. if there's a 2x4 in the middle of the car lane, it's gone by the next day, whether it's a human removing it or cars just running it over and moving it.

Glass generally doesn't present a hazard to cars anymore due to their thick hard rubber tires, but bicycles don't have that luxury due to their thin, softer tires. see also: goat's head thorns.

   - Kevin

buki wilson

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Aug 7, 2022, 3:48:29 PM8/7/22
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Thanks for clarification and I guess I’m going tubeless ;)
Sent: Sunday, August 7, 2022 12:34:12 PM
To: san...@bikesiliconvalley.org <san...@bikesiliconvalley.org>

Kevin Wang

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Aug 7, 2022, 4:09:45 PM8/7/22
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Yes, using products like slime will reduce problems due to glass, but you should still carry a tube and pump in case your tubeless setup fails (they're far rarer than flats, but still possible), and you're 5 miles from home.

I just don't like the mess that slime creates, even inside a tube. i.e. I have to be careful to park with the valve pointing upward (lest it fill with slime and harden, then interfere with air inflation) or if you remove the valve and spray slime all over yourself and your workshop. Also the initial "bump bump" of the unbalanced wheel bugs me. I only get about 1 flat per year, (~1000 mi per year, bike commute ~1 day a week annual mean), so it hasn't been a terrible experience for me. It hasn't been enough of a hassle to invest time/energy/money to make it a less frequent occurrence than that.

ymmv, especially given your tire type and where you ride (i.e. how often are people throwing glass around; more on roads, less on trails). Currently I have smooth (no tread) skinny road tires, and I don't bike when it's raining, not that it rains much, and my current commute is 2/3 on trails.

   - Kevin

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/bikesiliconvalley.org/d/msgid/sanjose/SJ0PR02MB7582E8A7CD2B42D880B10B6FF6609%40SJ0PR02MB7582.namprd02.prod.outlook.com.

Laura Monczynski

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Aug 7, 2022, 4:37:52 PM8/7/22
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Kevin,
   Thanks for what you’re doing to keep riding safer for all of us. Guerrilla bike lane cleaning!
     Laura

☮️

On Aug 7, 2022, at 12:23 PM, Kevin Wang <k...@leftsock.com> wrote:


I carry a small broom and dustpan to clean up broken glass in the bike lane. Street sweeping can never come soon enough.

My next plan is to investigate battery powered leaf blowers, test how effectively they can clean some of the unmaintained paths around here. An electric hedge clipper would also be great for trimming the weeds within a foot of the path. I just need to find one to borrow before I plunk down several hundred for said tools. The trick is how powerful they are will determine how fast I can roll down the bike path and perform said maintenance. During spring, the weeds grow so fast!

   - Kevin

On Fri, Aug 5, 2022, 13:46 Teodoro Cipresso <teodoro....@gmail.com> wrote:
Hehe, I like your idea :) Reminds me of when, for several months, there was a ~20ft stretch of brightly colored mixed drink fruit skewers in the bike lane on Santa Teresa blvd.

On Fri, Aug 5, 2022 at 8:47 AM Mikhail Haurylau <haur...@gmail.com> wrote:
I also have a stretch of road on Tasman which seems like not been swept in ages, even after all my complaining to SJ and Milpitas.

It may be time for some "guerilla reconnaissance" ;) Just like Parking Compliance marks car tires to see if they were parked too long, could we mark the bike lanes? 

We can use something like this - it is bright, should be easily swept, not too slippery, and relatively environmentally behigh...

<image.png>

 

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Kevin Wang

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Aug 7, 2022, 5:15:09 PM8/7/22
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For reference, when I commuted to mountain view from santa clara (mostly along Evelyn), I picked up trash in the bike lane:


After 2018, I was moved to Sunnyvale, and since it's mostly on trails, there was no trash to be had. I still pick up trash, but don't keep a log since it's the exception instead of a daily occurrence.

   - Kevin


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Mikhail Haurylau

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Aug 21, 2022, 11:40:16 PM8/21/22
to SVBC San Jose Team
Sadly, with our San Jose roads there is often no need for colored rocks to figure out how long the sweeping was not done. Someone conveniently shattered a beer bottle on my usual Tasman Drive commute, so I definitely know they did not sweep at least for 3 weeks. I will open the 311 request, and will ask them about the sweeping schedules in the same time.  

image.png

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