copyright 1996, Tracy-Williams Consulting.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS...

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Bike Lanes and Diagonal Parking

Greg Wilson:

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I'm trying to figure out how to handle bicycles on a (proposed) collector roadway with angle parking. The developement (PUD) is planned to have a "village" character and they wish to keep speeds down through the utilization of angle parking and narrow roadways. Our design standards call for four (4) foot bike lanes on all collectors and arterials. My question is :

1. Should bike lanes be located next to the angle parking ?

2. Should the bike lane width be increased ?

3. Are bike lanes needed if infact the design is intended to limit speeds?

4. Should a wide lane be utilized instead ?

a. If yes, how wide a lane ?

I haven't found any design guidelines or plans that deal with the issue of angle parking.

Some Answers from:

John Williams

Tom Walsh

Michael Ronkin

Terri Musser

Dan Burden

Jeff Hiles

JOHN WILLIAMS

Editor, Bicycle Forum, PO Box 8311, Missoula MT 59807 (406) 543-8113 FAX (406) 543-8146 or john@montana.com

> 1. Should bike lanes be located next to the angle parking ?

I really don't think so. The problem comes down to location and space. For one thing, since diagonal parking means that short and long cars (and trucks) park with their rear ends into the roadway, it's impossible to predict just where the parking lane would effectively end and the bike lane would begin. In addition, "back-out" diagonal parking requires a person leaving a parking space to back out into traffic, often without a good view of who's coming. That's a bad place for a bicyclist to be: a bike lane stripe between him/her and the traffic and an emerging car cutting off the bike lane. Ugh.

I suppose "back-in" diagonal parking might be marginally better--after all, the backing in process is similar to backing into a parallel space. But I don't think it really solves the bike lane problem.

> 2. Should the bike lane width be increased ?

Well, that might be one solution, I suppose. My problem is I can't tell you just how much it would need to be widened. For safety's sake, I suspect we're talking about 8 to 15 foot wide bike lanes. But I'm not sure even that would help and it might induce other problems, like motorists using it as a travel lane. So, ultimately, I'm not sure width solves the problems the underlying design creates.

> 3. Are bike lanes needed if infact the design is intended to limit speeds?

I think this is more the direction to go. Speed inhibitors that don't harm bicyclists would make more sense to me. I also think diagonal parking goes well with curb bulbs, which discourage bicyclists from pulling towards the right at intersections and then moving back left just beyond.

> 4. Should a wide lane be utilized instead ? If yes, how wide a lane ?

A friend and I did a small field test of the wide curb lane/diagonal parking lane combination on a street near the office. We tried to determine how wide the lane should be to give bicyclists enough space to keep away from the rear ends of those parked cars while still making it easy for passing motorists to get by the bicyclists. With our city's standard diagonal parking design (I can't remember the angle but this is an important factor), we figured a 20-foot outside lane would work ok. The problem is that, in a built-up area, it may be hard to fit both diagonal parking (which is a real roadway space hog) and a wide curb lane in the roadway cross section.

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Final thots: I know some of the ped advocates (e.g. Fred Kent) like diagonal parking because it slows motorists down. But for bicyclists, I think diagonal parking is pretty much a pain in the ***. As a cyclist, I give diagonal parking a wide berth and the idea of being constrained to a narrow bike lane where I'd have to play "diagonal parking roulette" gives me the willies.

TOM WALSH

Traffic engineer, City of Madison, 215 Martin Luther King Blvd., Madison WI 53701 (608) 266-6526 email: <TWALSH@CI.MADISON.WI.US>

MICHAEL RONKIN

Bicycle/Pedestrian Program Manager, Oregon DOT, Rm. 210 Transportation Bldg., Salem OR 97310 (503) 986-3555 Fax: (503) 986-3896 email: michael.p.ronkin@state.or.us

We've always resisted bike lanes next to diagonal parking, but we make exceptions. The following is excerpted from the 1995 Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan:

"E.4. DIAGONAL PARKING

Diagonal parking causes conflicts with bicycle travel: drivers backing out have poor visibility of oncoming cyclists and parked vehicles obscure other vehicles backing out. These factors require cyclists to ride close to the center of a travel lane, which is intimidating to inexperienced riders.

Where possible on one-way streets, diagonal parking should be limited to the left side, even if the street has no bike lane; on one-way streets with bike lanes, the bike lane should placed adjacent to parallel parking (preferably on the right).

Bike lanes are not usually placed next to diagonal parking. However, should diagonal parking be required on a street planned for bike lanes, the following recommendations can help decrease potential conflicts:

• The parking bays must be long enough to accommodate most vehicles;
• A 200 mm (8") stripe should separate the parking area from the bike lane; and
• Enforcement may be needed to cite or remove vehicles encroaching on the bike lane."

One problem I see with Tallahassee's proposal is that 4' is way too narrow, unless a very wide buffer is provided between the bike lane and parking. So this answers questions 1 and 2.

Questions 3 & 4 go together: as far as the 'traffic calming' effect goes, bike lanes are more effective that a wide lane, as it constricts the space that drivers perceive as their own. A lane wide enough to accommodate motor vehicles, bikes and backing vehicles would have to be enormous.

The only known example of a bike lane adjacent to diagonal parking in Oregon works well. The road is so wide, that there is room for large parked vehicles, a 3-foot "buffer," a six-foot bike lane and standard (12') travel lanes. There is an 8" stripe separating the bike lane form the diagonal parking.

By the way, did you know the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan is available on disk? For $10, you get the text, in Word and plain text. For $50, you get all the graphics (not the photos) in both Aldus Freehand and EPS. Order from: Bicycle and Pedestrian Program, Rm. 210 Transportation Bldg., Salem OR 97310 (503) 986-3555 Fax: (503) 986-3896 email: michael.p.ronkin@state.or.us

Note: Michael followed up his comments with a photo of a bike lane/diagonal parking installation from Oregon. Check it out!

TERRI MUSSER:

Planning Consultant, Bicycles &, Bolingbrook, IL (630) 226-9115 or TMusser@aol.com

I don't have a "professional" design answer. However, when I ride on streets with angled parking I tend to take the lane and maybe even ride closer to the center line, thinking that I may be more visible.

What I'd recommend for Greg to do is to set up a similar scenario with several different vehicles parked at the same angle as the proposed parking. Then run some in-field tests to determine what bicyclist position will not fall within the blind spots of the various vehicle drivers. I have a feeling that the desired bicyclist position on the roadway will vary depending on the angle of the parking! Just an assumption, but one that may be worth checking out.

DAN BURDEN:

Director, Walkable Communities, 320 S. Main Street, High Springs, Florida 32643, (904) 454-3304 or FAX (904) 454-3306 DBurden@aol.com

John, your thoughts fairly well echo my thoughts. Here are a few added tidbits. Michael Ronkin has figured out the best markings that I know of when markings are used in conjuction with diagonal parking.....Michael, I believe, is not an advocate of marking lanes in this setting.....but just in case.....You may want to look in his manual to see how he has handled it.

Also.....I don't have a problem as a bicyclist on a roadway when diagonal parking is used, due to the much lower speeds. Scottsdale, Arizona is a good place to see how nicely the low speed environment with angled parking works with bicycling. And as a final note, back-in angle parking creates problems for pedestrians in that if they walk between cars they are facing away from the traffic that will hit them as opposed to facing the traffic.......

JEFF HILES:

Board member, Ohio Bicycle Federation, jeff_a._hiles@adbbs.antioch.edu

In downtown Fairborn, Ohio, we have diagonal parking in the center of thestreet. There's an island/walkway that bulbs out at the ends forpedestrians. The diagonals can still be a little risky when you're settingup for a left turn, but overall it's a much more comfortable arrangementthan diagonal parking on the outside edges of the street.

I certainly don't mean to endorse diagonal parking, but if city planners havetheir hearts set on it, they might at least consider putting it on a centerisland, which would make the outside lane more suitable for a wide lane orbike lane. The island takes some space, but you'd have to add space toaccommodate bikes in any case.

I'm surprised no one mentioned this. Am I missing something?