Oaks and Spokes attended the Blue Ridge Rd. Bike/Ped Improvements Project open house design meeting and summarized a few takeaways below. The city is continuing to accept comments and we encourage you to share your thoughts using their online survey
This project includes two main areas: Reedy Creek Intersection in front of the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) and multi-use path extensions and a bike/pedestrian bridge over Wade Ave.
Reedy Creek Intersection:
The Reedy Creek segment will include buffered, protected turn boxes for cyclists waiting to cross the intersection, perhaps the first to be installed in Raleigh. The new design will require a tighter radius for turning cars so they have to go slower and will have more visibility into the sidewalk and bike crossings.
Issues Identified:
- Currently there’s no chosen plan for how cyclists will activate the signal to cross. We asked if cyclists will be required to exit the turn box just to get to the button or if one will be within reach from inside the turn box.
- Currently there are no plans to lower the speed limit around this intersection, but we strongly encouraged staff to bring speeds down from 45 mph to 35 mph around this area.
Wade Ave Bike/Ped Bridge and New Multi-use Paths:
This is a big deal for connecting communities north of Wade to areas south of Wade. In its current design the multi-use path heading south from NCMA will stop just before the westbound offramp, cross Blue Ridge Road very close to the offramp and connect to a 10′ wide separated bridge where users can traverse Wade Ave. This requires users to cross the westbound onramp. Once across Wade Ave, users will cross the eastbound offramp onto a continuous 10′ wide multi-use path that will also tie into another NCDOT project (No. U-4437) that will take this path across Hillsborough St. and create a multi-use path along Hillsborough that connect to the Greenway that runs through Meredith. It is likely that these two projects will be completed within a year of each other. It’s exciting to think about how these two projects will greatly enhance connectivity for this part of Raleigh.
We love the bridge – what a great statement and important infrastructure investment. Bravo to the city for taking on this portion of the project and not defaulting to the easiest option of painted (unsafe!) lanes on Blue Ridge Rd. One small modification that could be made to improve pedestrian/cyclist right-of-way is to raise the bridge a bit from traffic to avoid the debris from passing motorists. We suggested raising it vertically to give users a better experience and reduce the amount of road grime that will affect the path.
Issues Identified:
- Crosswalk design and location: After discussing the design we learned the engineers and staff seem to assume drivers using the offramps and onramps will obey “no turn on red” signs and activated crosswalk signals therefore making it safe for walkers and cyclists to cross. We voiced concerns that these measures aren’t enough to protect people. Other attendees mentioned that drivers wanting to enter the westbound onramp with a green light are unlikely to stop or look for people in the 2 crosswalks which drivers must cross to access the onramp. It will be very important to make sure that crossings are properly marked to encourage drivers to yield. We would also suggest a raised crosswalk be added along this section, like the image below, to ensure cars are aware they are crossing over a corridor meant for people.
- Even if a person has the crosswalk signal, there’s nothing else alerting the driver to be on the lookout for people in the crosswalks. This represents a major concern for this project. One possible solution is to add a pedestrian-activated signal or similar technology in all road and onramp/offramp crossings to alert drivers when a person is in the crosswalk. Other possible solutions include turning the traffic signal red for the direction of travel that is being traversed.
- No Crosswalks South of Wade Ave: The west side of Blue Ridge Rd gets a sweet multi use path, but people on the east side of Blue Ridge Rd have no facility. Because of this, there is no plan to install a crosswalk near Westchase Blvd to get people safely across the road. Both GoRaleigh Route 27 and GoTriangle Route 100 have service along this corridor, yet there is no safe crosswalk or facility to bring folks to their bus stop. The City is hoping when the Ramada renovates and has to install sidewalks, they can then install the crosswalk across Blue Ridge Rd. We have to do better than this. At minimum, we should install a crosswalk and pedestrian signal at the intersection of Westchase and Blue Ridge Rd to allow transit users to safely get to their stop.
Take Action
We encourage folks to take the online survey so you can leave feedback. As always, thank you for riding your bike, Raleigh!