www.masstransitmag.com: Carnegie Mellon University and PennDOT presented proposed safety improvements for Forbes Avenue in Oakland Wednesday night that include bike lanes, traffic signal upgrades that include signals at two new locations and safer crosswalks.
But if the raucous group at CMU were giving the $10 million to $12 million worth of work a grade, it would be "incomplete."
6 comments:
No, no bike lanes. No trees. No damn speedbumps. No more bikers. No more terrible buses. CMU has been pushing this stupid Bike centric agenda for years, as if all the people that drive to school will magically buy a bike and commute to CMU year round on a bike, even in the snow during wintertime. CMU continues to give no consideration to the population of students and faculty that drive to school simply BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY MODE OF TRANSPORTATION THAT FERRYS PEOPLE TO AND FROM CAMPUS IN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME. The CMU Parking department continues to reduce available parking on campus, with no better solution other than to encourage people to ride their bikes. These proposed bike lanes are just another step in incentivizing a lifestyle choice that is ridiculous to adopt year round. The loss of the Morewood parking lot has not been replaced, other than kicking undergraduates out of permits they have held for up to two years already. The notion of a “parking lottery” as the department claims is a complete farce, and the entirety of their staff and department head are hostile and rude to all inquiries. CMU PARKING IS THE WORST DEPARTMENT IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSITY.
/EndRant
So unlike many, I don’t have a car out here in Pittsburgh. So I pretty much have to bike from A to B in most situations, and in most situations A is my house and B is Purnell, or the other way around. I’m comfortable riding my bike on the street, but there are a lot of streets where if you do so then you’re pretty much blocking a whole lane of traffic just on a bicycle, which I think is less than optimal. I don’t see how the bike lanes could inconvenience drivers any, I see that they’d actually make driving a little easier. And not for nothing, but as a broke college student who wouldn’t be able to pay for gas even if I did have a car, I don’t think bikes are that bad. They’re compact, they’re super portable, you don’t need to pay through the nose to store it during the day, they give you a bit of exercise, and they’re better for the environment. But I guess that’s just my take on the whole deal.
Wow. From my experience last year, any and all construction on Forbes Avenue just completely impedes and almost shuts down the flow of traffic. I grew up being taught by my parents that people do not cope with adversity well – especially when it comes to driving. Cyclists are definitely at a higher risk on these main roads like Forbes and Fifth, but the article brings up a good point that turning lanes are especially treacherous for bike lanes. With the infinite number of cross streets between Forbes and Fifth, every 100-300ft would be nearly a death zone for cyclists. Also the idea of merging down the four available lanes down to two just sounds like a traffic nightmare. Another thing that terrifies me about this project is when it is going to be in construction. Obviously for me and other Carnegie Mellon students, the best option is the summer months, but a project this large cannot feasibly be completed in the 3-4 month period we’re all gone, which means move-in or move-out are bound to be affected.
Last year I watched someone on a bike get hit by a car on the corner of Morewood and Forbes. He was fine, it wasn't anything serious, intact he got up like he had been waiting for it to happen, and that it was no big deal. I think that this is unacceptable for a lot of reasons, first the driver seemed to feel no remorse at all, and second, the cyclist was totally unfazed, because its such a mess at that intersection, how could someone not get hit? I agree with Kim that more construction in that area is definitely not what CMU needs, the month when Forbes was closed, was horrible, but a ton of students bike to and from campus every day and everyday I watch someone on foot almost get hit by a biker who is trying to cross the street like a pedestrian. They need their own space, and deserve their own space, and while I am not thrilled at the prospect of more construction, I think in the long run it will do what it needs to for the bikers. It may also encourage more people to bike to school and open the buses up a little more, because right now, they are just as crazy as the sidewalks.
As someone who has just started driving to school this year I'm really annoyed that Carnegie Mellon is creating bike lanes before addressing the very serious lack of parking. Like Ben said, driving is one of the only modes of transportation that runs consistently and is realistic year-round when the weather gets worse. Biking is not an option that most people can use, and even though bike lines would help in the summer people will inevitably stop in the winter. The bus system is another option, but is completely unreliable and is so frustrating to deal with. Just this week I've heard stories of people waiting over 2 hours for a 61C or D that never came. Obviously it'll never be possible to give everyone who needs it parking, but the fact that some seniors didn't even get passes is ridiculous. Before this bike lane project begins I really hope they instead focus on replacing the Morewood Lot. Both projects are helpful, but at this point parking is a much bigger issue.
I would personally never bike to school just because I would definitely fall into pieces if I tired to, but I honestly don't think the negative impacts make it worth it to get bike lanes. I mostly take the bus, and I've experienced hardcore heavy traffic in the morning, afternoon and around 6pm. Merging the 4 traffic lanes into 2 will just make it infinitely worse. There are bike lanes everywhere in China because there are just as many bikers as there are drivers. But even with the bike lanes there's still more than enough traffic lanes for cars, and it's genuinely unsafe to bike in China without any sort of a guide - all of which from what I've seen here doesn't seem to be the case. Also if another construction site pops up I'm pretty sure I will lose my mind. Construction never seems to stop around CMU, with the UC last year and the morewood parking lot/Rez short cut, the Forbes sewage problem, etc.
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