SpringfieldCyclist.com

Below is an e-mail I sent to David H., Traffic Engineer with the City of Springfield:

David,

 What are the odds of getting some sort of “traffic calming” device placed on Stewart at Trafficway?

I ride my bike through that intersection daily, and it’s the one spot where I consistently feel at risk.  I travel north on Stewart and need to make a left turn onto Trafficway.  Both streets have marked bike lanes, but to make the left turn, I need to move left out of the bike lane into the northbound traffic lane. 

The problem is that cars traveling west on Trafficway and turning left onto Stewart consistently cut through the northbound Stewart traffic lane as they make their left turn.  Unfortunately, the flea market building blocks both my vision and theirs until both myself and car are right on top of each other.  In several years of bike commuting, I’ve had more scary close calls at that intersection than all other locations combined.

What I was thinking is that if some sort of curb divider with warning signs was placed in the middle of Stewart, those left turning cars would be forced to turn around it and not cheat into my lane they way they are so prone to do.  Can something like that be done fairly inexpensively?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me in this problem.

TW

Within 25 minutes, I got the following reply:

Thank you for the comment, Tracy.  I agree that I feel a higher risk on East Trafficway between Stewart and Kentwood than most of my trip.  One does need to creep up to the location where you can see around the building while watching for cars making a wide left turn.

 I will see if we can add a median on Stewart Av.  There is plenty of room.

 David H., Professional Engineer

Springfield Public Works Department

It feels pretty good to think that the City really does give consideration to reasonable requests!  If I come riding up to that intersection one of these mornings and find a new median there, I’ll be able to smile smugly to myself and think, “I had a part in that!”.  If nothing ever comes of it, at least I know that I’ve made the effort.

How ’bout you?  Are you making the effort?

God bless….

TW

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This entry was posted on November 8, 2012 at 4:51 pm and is filed under bicycle, Bike Commute, Cycling, Fitness. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: bicycle, Bike Commute, Cycling, Fitness

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