Sunset Bridge

[TOMAS LYNCH]

Hello,

With the “Road Construction Season” upon us, I would like to offer a suggestion regarding the Sunset Bridge over Latah Creek.

A few years back, due to load restrictions on the bridge, the lanes were reduced to one in each direction to centre the load on the aging structure. Candle sticks installed to keep traffic from going to the outside lane. These candle sticks made it difficult for bicycles to navigate and impossible for street sweepers to clean the debris creating flat hazards for cyclists. Many of these candle sticks are gone. Instead of replacing all of them, I would like to see a bike lane painted adjacent to the travel lane and candle sticks to the outside of the closed lane.  

This would allow safer passage across the bridge while keeping the cars on the centre of the bridge. This bridge serves as a bicycle route to SFCC as well as the Fish Lake Trail. Making the bridge safer for bicycles will encourage more people to ride instead of drive, which will ease the burden on the Sunset bridge. The cost of the paint would be offset by the cost of the candle sticks.

Thank you for your consideration,

 

Tomás Kelley Lynch
Bike...@msn.com
509.279.8492  voice/txt


"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."
   - H. G. Wells

[Spokane Bike Buddy]

Tomas, 

Once upon a time, in talking with Jon Snyder about the Latah bridge, he suggested I can an engineer he had worked with in the Logan neighborhood. Old age prevents me from remembering his name. We had a great talk. He thought he had taken care of bikes because the candles were 5' apart if hit at the right angle. I explained that I tried to teach people to ride in a straight line on the roads, and coming so close to candles was similar to cars needing to come close to a wall.   He understood, and it was the last of many calls they had received. He wanted the middle candle out as I remember, because with the left one there he thought this would prevent the aggressive motorist from turning it back to a useable car lane. 

I was thrilled just to have one gone. 

Just thought you'd like to know. 

   The other issue they will bring up are the bridge approaches. These are good in my opinion ( as opposed to the old Post St Bridge candle issue). 

    More important in my life is the mess they've made of Post.  Turned it into a parking lot. Southbound from Lincoln bikes are forced across oncoming traffic, then onto sidewalk which is illegal in most of downtown core (for many good reasons).

   Fire the consultants who have 'helped' with bike design.  I know some good firms.   

Eileen

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Spokane Bicycle Advisory Board" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bab-spokane...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to bab-s...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/bab-spokane.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[ble...@comcast.net]

No longer being on the BAB, I can't speak to specifics, but last Tuesday's meeting had on the agenda some discussion of Sunset Highway and what's planned. There is a desire to make it a better approach to Fish Lake Trail, and maybe even Gov't Way and SFCC, but I've got no specifics. I'm not even sure if any BAB folks are on this list any more to tell you the truth. Quite a lot of turnover since the list was created. 

Bradley

---

From: "Spokane Bike Buddy" <spokaneb...@aol.com>
To: bab-s...@googlegroups.com, bike...@msn.com
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 8:31:19 PM
Subject: Re: [BAB Spokane] Sunset Bridge

[Rachel J.]

I know none of them are moderating it, as I am the one that approved Tomas' message after 2 days. (I'm surprised I'm still a moderator!)

I think Facebook or a meeting are the best places to reach them. 

[erika...@gmail.com]

I got the message and passed it along to the people who set the BAB agenda so we could bring it up at the next meeting. Not sure if I have the power to moderate messages?

Sent from my iPhone

[ble...@comcast.net]

That explains why I got that email from google about some message from somewhere. Couldn't figure it out. I guess I'm a list moderator as well. We could "unmoderate" as there isn't much traffic.

Bradley

---

From: "Rachel J." <thequ...@gmail.com>
To: bab-s...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 9:34:14 PM

[TOMAS LYNCH]

I apologize for sending my message to all of you no longer affiliated with the BAB. My email list clearly needs updating.

Tomás Kelley Lynch
Bike...@msn.com
509.279.8492  voice/txt


"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."
   - H. G. Wells

---

From: erika...@gmail.com

Subject: Re: [BAB Spokane] Sunset Bridge

Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 03:18:13 -0700
To: bab-s...@googlegroups.com

[Rachel J.]

There's no problem. You emailed the BAB email group and we're all members, as interested citizens. :)

And it looks like there are still some BAB members on here that can pass along messages like yours. 

[ble...@comcast.net]

No worries Tomas. I think that despite no longer being BAB members, we're all still concerned and I, at least, like being in the loop. I would suggest posting to the BAB Facebook page as well. I think that would receive more timely responses. You could also contact Louis Mueller (whose name I hope to have spelled properly) within the city as the is the new lead person when it comes to cycling issues. He can probably tell you what the plans are, in whatever stage they may be in. 

Bradley

---

From: "TOMAS LYNCH" <bike...@msn.com>
To: bab-s...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2014 8:28:08 AM
Subject: RE: [BAB Spokane] Sunset Bridge

[TOMAS LYNCH]

So can I infer that Louis Mueller has replaced Grant Wencil?

Tomás Kelley Lynch
Bike...@msn.com
509.279.8492  voice/txt


"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."
   - H. G. Wells

---

Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 16:51:03 +0000
From: ble...@comcast.net
To: bab-s...@googlegroups.com

[Erika Prins]

I passed his email on to Louis and Brandon. Tomas, we no longer have a Grant Wencel -- his position was eliminated. Louis works in planning and Brandon Blankenagel is an engineer who works in Capital Programs and does a lot of the bike-related grant-writing. They now attend our BAB meetings, help facilitate them and are super responsive to our requests for information and solicit our feedback often. 

509.280.2776

[Rachel J.]

I'm glad to hear the city has involved other people after the sad loss of the bike/ped coordinator, and I'm also glad they are receptive. 

I was afraid bike things were going to go in one ear and out the other, of the city's, with the current administration (although it often felt that way with the old administration too). I mean, I already feel like they put up rather poorly thought out infrastructure just to "please" us bike people... but sometimes, as Tomas has pointed out here, it seems better to leave it without any official facilities than to put in junky ones. Heck, sometimes it's even _safer_.

[ble...@comcast.net]

Not really replaced. The city has "removed the silo" that was the bike/ped coordinator and "integrated" the duties among other staff and the planning process. Those are my quotes, but not far from what Mayor Dave wrote to me when I wrote him a complaint about what came about and how things came about. Louis is a senior engineer, a walker, though not so much a cyclist as I understand it.

Bradley

---

From: "TOMAS LYNCH" <bike...@msn.com>
To: bab-s...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Friday, April 18, 2014 10:47:22 AM