Just a reminder: tomorrow evening at 5:30 PM in the Community Room at the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders on Magnolia is a meeting being presented by Fort Worth South, Inc. on the “Complete Streets” proposal for Magnolia Avenue. The proposal would see Magnolia re-striped as shown in the crude drawing I made above. At the top is Magnolia’s current configuration: four car traffic lanes, two in each direction. On the bottom is the proposal: a center turn lane, two traffic lanes (one in each direction), and bike lanes on the outside.
As you’d expect, I personally support the proposal. It would be a great step for the Near Southside to see one of its signature streets be reworked to accommodate bike traffic with dedicated lanes, and the reduction of vehicular lanes would also have the effect of reducing traffic speeds (but with the center turn lane, there should be no congestion problems). Reduced traffic speeds make the street safer for all users - pedestrian, cyclist, and motorist.
Is this meeting strictly an informational type meeting or, as someone that lives in the area, a meeting one should attend to show their position on the issue?
Ricky,
Here’s how the e-mail I got from Paul Paine of FWSI was phrased:
“Community meeting to discuss “complete street”plan for West Magnolia Avenue. Fort Worth South, Inc. has
been working to spruce up West Magnolia Avenue by repairing benches, cleaning up the trees and sidewalks, and installing street banners. Join FWSI and City staff on
Wednesday, August 27 at 5:30 pm at the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders Community Room, 800 W. Magnolia, for a discussion of the effort’s second phase, which would include a re-striping of the street to provide striped bike lanes and reduce traffic speeds. This type of 3-lane road carries about the same number of cars as the current 4-lane configuration. It’s important that we get input from Magnolia business owners and neighborhood residents.”
What are your thoughts on the proposal itself? Nothing says you can’t say them both here and at tomorrow night’s meeting. :)
I’ve never been a fan of left turn lanes. Forcing traffic travelling in opposing directions into the same lane seems dangerous. Dedicated bike lanes make more sense on a road with only one traffic lane in each direction. There they prevent vehicles crossing into the oncoming lane to pass cyclists. Where there is already a lane to pass in, a dedicated bicycle lane seems unnecessary.
To me, a center left turn lane seems like a good solution - it’ll allow cars to turn left without blocking the other lanes, but will keep cars from slaloming between lanes to get around turning vehicles. Combined with reducing the traffic lanes to two, it would be effective in slowing down traffic on Magnolia, which I am in favor of as well. The center turn lane combined with just one travel lane each way will force drivers to think a little more and make them slow down.
Dedicated bike lanes are a step forward in enabling more bike ridership. I am very much in favor of it - dedicating lanes to bike traffic means people will feel safer riding, and will further reinforce to motorists that bikes belong. Accommodating cyclists with lanes is always a good thing in my book - I have always been a supporter of the “Complete Streets” movement, the goal of which is streets that accommodate all users with equal quality.
Do you know if they’re going to put any ramps in the bike lane for sweet jumps?
That would be pretty awesome.
In all seriousness, I like the idea. I personally wish they could put some kind of landscaping down the middle but I’m guessing there’s not enough space. It would pretty cool to have Magnolia trees planted in a few spots down the middle.
Good call Chewy. I would love to see Magnolia trees lining the street. I don’t believe the City grows them in its tree farm though, so they would have to be purchased from a wholesale nursery if that is the case.
Very glad to see that the bike lanes are getting closer to reality. The more bikes we have on the streets, the more drivers will become accustomed to looking for them, the more appealing it will be for cyclists…..
It would be better for motorists to get accustomed to sharing regular lanes with cyclists. That would improve the safety of cyclists in all areas, not just in those with bike lanes. Creating lanes for bicycles just reinforces a motorists belief that bicycles don’t belong on their road… they should only ride where there are bike lanes.
Not to mention that a center left turn lanes also forces cyclists to go head to head with cars. No winners there.
I also think slowing traffic on Magnolia is a bad goal. That ends up pushing east-west traffic either up to Rosedale or down to Allen. Both are bad for the businesses on Magnolia.
My bigger point is that streets shouldn’t be all about making cars go as fast as possible. Slowing the traffic down is a great thing - and I want some drastic measures taken to slow it on Rosedale, too. People drive waaaaaaaay too fast on Rosedale, thanks to the state’s stupid widening to six lanes. Rosedale needs to be dropped back to four lanes with on-street parking ASAP.
That may be, but from a bicycle safety standpoint, separate lanes aren’t a very good solution. Even with their own lanes cyclists intersect with cars whenever they make a left turn, or when they go straight and a car is turning right across the bike lane. Dedicated lanes for cyclists lead to drivers paying even less attention to riders than they currently do because they feel separated from them. It’s also been shown that drivers pass more closely to cyclists on roads with bike lanes than those without.
The best way to improve bicycle safety is to get out there and ride with cars. Once cyclists sharing the road becomes the rule rather than the exception, drivers will start to pay closer attention. People are terrible at seeing things they don’t expect. Once riders are expected to be on the road drivers will be looking for them.
Kevin - The approval to reduce Rosedale was recently done and that work should be started in the near future. It had to be done for six lanes in order to be funded by the state.
Paul Paine at FWS deserves huge credit as the City had all but forgotten about doing the reduction but Paul Paine convinced the Mayor and City Leaders that it was desperately needed.
I forget all the details but the good news is it will be done and Rosedale between 8th and South Main will be turned into a more pedestrian friendly road like Berry between 8th and University.
I want to love this proposal, but I just keep getting stuck on the center turn lane.
I ride a bike a lot, and I don’t need or want a bike lane for myself on Magnolia. I’m perfectly comfortable riding on Magnolia as it is. I do, however, feel that bike lanes would be a good step in encouraging people who are not currently riding bikes to begin doing so. So in that sense, I think they do have a great value.
The center turn lane, though, is asking for bike/car collisions, IMO. In this proposal, you’ve got a bike lane reinforcing the erroneous idea in drivers’ minds that bikes only belong on the right side… well, what if someone on a bike needs to turn left? They’re might get in the center turn lane, which would be the right thing to do in these circumstances, but drivers won’t be expecting to see them there, and thus there is danger. Or, the inexperienced cyclist will stay in the bike lane until the last minute, and then turn across a lane of traffic, inviting even more danger.
Either way, I think the turn lane is going to cause some problems. I’d definitely rather see a tree-lined median.
It’s great to see the Magnolia proposal generating discussion. In response to the first comment, tonight’s meeting is the best opportunity to provide input and have a discussion with others interested in the future of Magnolia. If you can’t make it you can email me your comments and we’ll pass them on to City staff.
Hope to see many of you at the meeting tonight. We’ll address issues raised in this thread. See you in a few!
Mike Brennan
Fort Worth South, Inc.
mike@fortworthsouth.org