September Pinch Flat Award, CDOT/NASCAR
Today the crosswalks on E. Stonewall at the intersection of the NASCAR Hall of Fame were painted as Finish Lines. I’m offended by the transformation of a pedestrian facility into an auto racing stripe. I also consider the excessive paint a potential bicycle slip hazard. And I’m shocked at how the city can free-style on the form of a pedestrian traffic facility for a corporate entity, yet not adopt nationally precedented Bicycle Sharrows until they are officially part of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).
If you think novelty crosswalks are a bad idea, join me on Monday Sept 21 by calling 311 and reporting the code violation as a public safety issue. Click here for 311 online requests.
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September 19, 2009 at 4:24 pm
sorry mr weldon, you are usually right on point and in front of the curve. It is far too late to make the change after the paint is on the asphalt. I tried to motivate folks to look closer at the Caldwell/277 fiasco for bikes after CABA invited the foxes in their hen house and abandoned a ped/bike facility across 277. Here is a comment promising things back in 2007, approved by the city council on Wednesday nov 7, 2007. Maybe this will help:
NASCAR Hall of Fame Complex Road Improvements
The I-277/Caldwell Interchange Project (NASCAR Hall of Fame Road Improvements) will reconstruct several ramps on I-277 and modify Stonewall, Caldwell and Brevard Streets along with Martin Luther King Boulevard in uptown Charlotte. When completed, the area in and around the interchange will be pedestrian and bicycle friendly and accommodate development of the future NASCAR Hall of Fame site. Construction of the interchange project is scheduled to be complete when the NASCAR Hall of Fame opens in 2010.
For the latest information about the project, visit the project website nascarhof.charmeck.org.
September 19, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Correction: nov 2,2007
September 20, 2009 at 11:27 pm
I have written in various places about the hazards of painted road surfaces to cyclists. I think maybe the checkered pattern is slightly worse than the standard “zebra” stripes, but not by enough to justify a mass action.
With the stripes, you can ride between the stripes. That’s a plus. However, there are lots of crosswalks that are entirely covered with paint. Concord has these all over the place. They’re fake brick. They’re heat-impressed asphalt with brown paint on the whole area.
I see bike advocates calling for fully painted bike boxes at intersections, and even fully painted bike lanes.
The checkered crosswalk is probably less hazardous to cyclists than a thermoplastic stripe marking a bike lane, because the edges one has to cross are perpendicular to traffic.
I do think stripes and markings are an important issue, but before we take on HOF or the City of Charlotte over the checkered crosswalks, we need to get our own ducks in a row.