Cycling in Waterloo Region

[Canard]

Reason, again, direct from the project manager:

Also, sections of the coloured concrete bike lanes could not be completed this year due to the type of finish and temperatures required for curing. This work will be completed in the spring along with the decorative paving stones / street trees.

[Markster]

The lane does not look like a bike lane, it isn't signed that way, and wasn't there beforehand so I don't blame vehicle drivers for being confused.

Yeah, I'm feeling the same way. It looks like a parking lane. There was parking before, so it would be very reasonable to assume it's a parking lane now. I can't blame the people for not having intimate knowledge of roadwork in the region.
They should have had the opportunity to learn when the lanes were completed and painted and signed. But the construction went months overdue, and so here we are in an unfinished state.

[danbrotherston]

The lane does not look like a bike lane, it isn't signed that way, and wasn't there beforehand so I don't blame vehicle drivers for being confused.

Yeah, I'm feeling the same way.  It looks like a parking lane.  There was parking before, so it would be very reasonable to assume it's a parking lane now.  I can't blame the people for not having intimate knowledge of roadwork in the region.  
They should have had the opportunity to learn when the lanes were completed and painted and signed.  But the construction went months overdue, and so here we are in an unfinished state.

Please forgive the blurry photo:

   

I'll say again, I don't agree that this looks like a parking lane.  Anyone paying any attention, should notice that this is not a parking lane.  It's basically mud at this point (even if they remove the cars, it won't be bikeable by anything less than a mountain bike now), and the picture clearly shows a crossride leading into the lane.  No competent driver should be confused about this if they took the time to look.

[Viewfromthe42]

They'll need to start painting the bike symbols (perhaps coming with green paint?) into crossrides all over the city before people will start realizing what they are.

[GtwoK]

The lane does not look like a bike lane, it isn't signed that way, and wasn't there beforehand so I don't blame vehicle drivers for being confused. If anything the frustration should be directed at the City or the contractor the city hired.

This isn't an excuse to me. Ignorance of he law is not an excuse for breaking it. Could I leave my bike in the middle of the road and claim I didn't know I wan't allowed to do it?

[Pheidippides]

Reason, again, direct from the project manager:

Also, sections of the coloured concrete  bike lanes could not be completed this year due to the type of finish and temperatures required for curing. This work will be completed in the spring along with the decorative paving stones / street trees.

Yes, I realize that the reason why they did not pour the concrete. I am asking what was the reason it got so late in the season that they didn’t have the right conditions to pour the concrete in the first place. Why did they run out of time?
 
The section they did reopen, King from the Ion track to Bridgeport and Erb from Allen to King, was a month late and still not complete, and that’s with not even starting another third of the project (King from Bridgeport to Central) that has now been put off until 2018 or later.
 
It’s work like this that makes me glad to see RFPs now including weighting for quality and timeliness of previous work and not just the lowest price wins.
 
I go back to the double standard in criticism for delays related to Ion and delays for “regular road work.” I mean where is the public and media uproar over this delay like there was for the Ion work along King last year? Businesses still suffered and traffic was a nightmare at times. Sure there have been a few articles, but nothing like the vitriol that was spilled in the media and social media for the Ion work. Work that, was fully stopped for two months because of the corduroy road discovery, still finished and re-opened on time on November 30, 2016 because they had learned from their experiences Caroline and had planned extra time knowing they would not know what they would find.

[KevinL]

I'll say again, I don't agree that this looks like a parking lane.  Anyone paying any attention, should notice that this is not a parking lane.  It's basically mud at this point (even if they remove the cars, it won't be bikeable by anything less than a mountain bike now), and the picture clearly shows a crossride leading into the lane.  No competent driver should be confused about this if they took the time to look.

I'm sorry, but if I've never seen a crossride before how am I supposed to know that's what this is? 

The folks pictured have parked in a space reserved beside the roadway for a function other than throughput of vehicles. Without signage - which, somehow, is STILL MISSING - there is no straightforward way to intuit whether it is parking or a bike lane or whatever. As the vast majority of such spaces are for parking, and there are no signs forbidding it, drivers park. 

As for the condition of the ground, can you see that from in your car? And do you worry about it, knowing the road has just reopened from being under construction?

[Coke6pk]

I'll say again, I don't agree that this looks like a parking lane.  Anyone paying any attention, should notice that this is not a parking lane.  It's basically mud at this point (even if they remove the cars, it won't be bikeable by anything less than a mountain bike now), and the picture clearly shows a crossride leading into the lane.  No competent driver should be confused about this if they took the time to look.

I'm sorry, but if I've never seen a crossride before how am I supposed to know that's what this is? 

The folks pictured have parked in a space reserved beside the roadway for a function other than throughput of vehicles. Without signage - which, somehow, is STILL MISSING - there is no straightforward way to intuit whether it is parking or a bike lane or whatever. As the vast majority of such spaces are for parking, and there are no signs forbidding it, drivers park. 

As for the condition of the ground, can you see that from in your car? And do you worry about it, knowing the road has just reopened from being under construction?

I agree with Kevin 100%.  If the "crossride" was highly-visable with bike logos going into the lane, I *might* feel sympathetic... but we can look at other roadways with lane markings over other markings leading to confusion. 

If I have a parking lot and two spots are for bikes but I don't mark them in anyway except for a dotted line leading from a nearby MUT, how could I be mad at a car that parks there?  The beef is with the city and/or contractor. 

Unfortunately, you are one of the few who know its a bike lane (although all of us here at WRC know now).

Coke

[danbrotherston]

I'm sorry, but if I've never seen a crossride before how am I supposed to know that's what this is? 

The folks pictured have parked in a space reserved beside the roadway for a function other than throughput of vehicles. Without signage - which, somehow, is STILL MISSING - there is no straightforward way to intuit whether it is parking or a bike lane or whatever. As the vast majority of such spaces are for parking, and there are no signs forbidding it, drivers park. 

As for the condition of the ground, can you see that from in your car? And do you worry about it, knowing the road has just reopened from being under construction?

I agree with Kevin 100%.  If the "crossride" was highly-visable with bike logos going into the lane, I *might* feel sympathetic... but we can look at other roadways with lane markings over other markings leading to confusion. 

If I have a parking lot and two spots are for bikes but I don't mark them in anyway except for a dotted line leading from a nearby MUT, how could I be mad at a car that parks there?  The beef is with the city and/or contractor. 

Unfortunately, you are one of the few who know its a bike lane (although all of us here at WRC know now).

Coke

As Gtwok said best "Ignorance of he law is not an excuse for breaking it. Could I leave my bike in the middle of the road and claim I didn't know I wan't allowed to do it?".

Crossrides were one of the well documented advertised features of the new HTA rules.

That being said, they're new, maybe have some sympathy.  I could forgive someone for not knowing what a crossride is and thinking instead it is a crosswalk.  But nobody should be thinking they are a parking lane.   Obviously it goes through an intersection.  I have zero sympathy for people in this situation, it's plainly obvious from the context in the photo that it is not for parking.

Plenty of drivers are willing to break the rules when they think they can get away with it and believe it causes no harm.  This is essentially what the driver who drove up the trail/path/freight railway connection in uptown said to me yesterday.  

[robdrimmie]

It just needs to be painted green (or some other standard colour - green seems to be it here, now).

I drove through several small and mid-size cities in Indiana and Illinois this week, and there were some bike lanes in some of the cities that were also green. It does appear to be a convention, if not a standard.

Their pavement was also in terrible shape, far worse than the worst I've ridden on here in town (I certainly haven't ridden everywhere in town), to the point that I'd rather ride on a cobblestone street.

[creative]

I drove up King this morning and tried to observe what I was seeing without a biased slant either way. The slopped curbs look just like downtown Kitchener where you are allowed to drive up on and park. Why they did this instead of normal curbs I have no idea and feel that it was a dumb idea until someone explains to me otherwise. It is very confusing as to where you can and can not park, contrary to what others think but this is only my observation. I am not trying to convince you otherwise but only state my opinion. With the light dusting of snow, this only added to the confusion as all surfaces looked the same. Also with the absence of any signage telling people that there is no parking I can totally see why people are parking there. I totally get people's passion but I also agree that your anger should be directed at those who created this mess and not those that misunderstand what they can and can not do. With all of the people parking there, obviously many others are confused as well.

[KevinL]

I like the idea of a standard colour, but that green seems a bit too bright and stark for my taste.

Perhaps it's my love of the terra-cotta red used in the Netherlands. Distinct, but understated.

[Canard]

Well, we’ve already started with green (I actually really like it). We should stick with it, instead of changing now. We already have enough different kinds of infra for bikes all over the place here without standard!!

[GtwoK]

IIRC, didn't the renderings if this projects use the terracotta red colour? I could've sworn they did. Whether that is indicative of what the final design will be remains to be seen.

[danbrotherston]

I drove up King this morning and tried to observe what I was seeing without a biased slant either way. The slopped curbs look just like downtown Kitchener where you are allowed to drive up on and park. Why they did this instead of normal curbs I have no idea and feel that it was a dumb idea until someone explains to me otherwise. It is very confusing as to where you can and can not park, contrary to what others think but this is only my observation. I am not trying to convince you otherwise but only state my opinion. With the light dusting of snow, this only added to the confusion as all surfaces looked the same. Also with the absence of any signage telling people that there is no parking I can totally see why people are parking there. I totally get people's passion but I also agree that your anger should be directed at those who created this mess and not those that misunderstand what they can and can not do. With all of the people parking there, obviously many others are confused as well.

They chose the sloped curbs so that cyclists would be able to safely exit the bike lanes to go around obstructions...ironically.  Take that as you will, I would also have preferred barrier curbs, although I'm not convinced they would have stopped all parking.