u/Moist-Bus-Window

Saw this freeway interchange in Whitmore Lake, Michigan, USA.

It's two roundabouts linked together with the bridge over the freeway.

Edit: u/mattmahn pointed out my mistake. This is called a "dumbbell" interchange because there's the ability to make a U turn in both roundabouts. Unfortunately, Reddit won't let me edit the post title.

u/Moist-Bus-Window — 13 days ago
▲ 67 r/Urbanism+1 crossposts

There's a neighborhood corridor in my city that has a surprisingly wide (for the neighborhood) paved street. It's about 50 feet wide, but only divided into two marked lanes, one each direction. In that wide 25 foot marked lane, there's an unmarked width for on-street parallel parking. This street is ripe for a road diet IMHO.

There's been moves to gentrify, but mainly the two far ends in the corridor of this street seem to have been revamped. The middle section has many vacant lots. The corridor is around a 1/4 mile long.

The bus stop is on the far side of the corridor from where the higher density housing is. This street once was part of a bus route deviation that served the housing at the far end.

All intersections are unsignalized. The majority of intersections are all way stops.

With a few bike share dock stations, folks living in the higher density housing on the end with the view could access amenities which may be too far to consider walking. Could attract residents that want to live car free.

I used streetmix.net and came up with two street configurations. I shared them in this post.

Option A

Conventional one-way bike lanes and on-street parking with a door zone buffer

Pros:

Provides room for cars to pull over for emergency vehicles and room for emergency vehicles to double park if needed

Bike lane isn't disturbed by curb bus loading if bus service returns to the street in the future.

Cons:

Cars can double-park in the bike lane, blocking it. Example: car driver parks there to quickly run in and get a carryout order on a busy night, or ride share loading/unloading

Cars could use the bike lane to pass a car turning left

Cars could use the bike lane to make a right turn

Bicycle lane is unprotected from cars entering into it

Nothing but paint separating cyclists from cars

Conflicts (crash risks) with cars entering/leaving on-street parallel parking

Might be intimidating to casual bike riders, would parents allow their children to ride on it?

Design may not reduce speeds. There's still the same distance between the parked cars at the curb and the driving lanes as in the current configuration. The bike lane could be a place for cars to correct their errors without hitting cars, but hitting cyclists instead

Option B

Protected one-way bike lanes and on-street parking

Pros:

Safest for all types of cyclists, parents more likely to allow their children to ride on it

Protected from cars parking with physical obstacles, and protected from moving vehicles by parked cars

Because parked cars are directly next to the drive lanes, drivers are more likely to keep their vehicle under control and at a lower speed

Cons:

Needs flexposts and/or parking bumps and/or rubber armadillos to keep cars out of the bike lane, financial cost

No place for cars to pull over for emergency vehicles if on-street parking is in use

If bus service returns, may cause issues

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Pros for both options:

Provides a route for cyclists and other micromobility users between both ends of the corridor

Connects housing at the far end to the bus stop, blocks away via bike lane

Road diet, down from two 25 foot lanes with undelinated on-street parking

Protection from most parked car "dooring" crashes

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I'm curious which option you'd prefer, and most importantly, why. Thanks in advance.

u/Moist-Bus-Window — 18 days ago