»Running 'round in circles.

The Page St. circles fiasco is coming to a head. After nine months (three times the intended evaluation period), residents of the Lower and Upper Haight will have the opportunity, once again, to voice their opinion on the traffic circles placed at 11 intersections. One of the traffic-irritating circles is at the intersection of Scott and Page, where I used to enjoy watching eastbound cyclists blow through the stop sign, self-righteously yelling at motorists who didn't anticipate their lack of courtesy (oh yes, and disregard for the law).

These former four-way stops have been replaced with haphazard, ineptly-designed, and poorly-maintained roundabouts. The placement of the roundabouts increases the threat to pedestrians from cyclists and motorists, and undercuts the notion that pedestrians (the most fragile of the three groups) come first when planning high-traffic residential intersections.

The advocacy groups WalkSF and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (of which I am a long-standing member) heartily endorse the circles, while acknowledging that they are imperfect. I've pasted their last email salvo below.

To sum the reasons:

• limited line of sight: cars travelling at speed can't see pedestrians for R turn

• eyesore: if the city couldn't maintain the test circles, how will they maintain real ones?

• belief that drivers will slow down is mistaken, and only partly addresses the problem. Many drivers on use Scott St. as a shortcut to the traffic and turn restrictions on Divis, or as a path to the freeway (Oak / Fell Sts). These drivers are in a hurry, and don't slow down.
  The other part of the problem is that

• limited turning radius, ambiguous rules
  this is significant, and doesn't only affect large emergency vehicles. This means that older, larger cars (and new SUVs) have trouble navigating the narrow circles, and infringe on the pedestrian crosswalks. If these circles are primarily about encouraging calm traffic, the don't ease the passage of larger cars. For many cars, these circles bring the interaction of the 2 tons of steel even closer to the trandition linear pedestrian crosswalk. These circles constrain the turning radius of cars in a way that impedes the flow of traffic.

• cyclists don't need to slow down; I've seen plenty of near misses. No incentive for them to slow down at STOP signs, anyway

• unclear signs; lack of driver recgonition of sophisticated traffic circle. Fully 10% of cars during a Saturday did not obey the rules for a traffic circle (cite CVC)
  

Subject: Page St. Traffic Circle Hearing TOMORROW
From: joshua@sfbike.org
Date: March 17, 2004 1:30:06 PM PST

Dear SF bicyclist,

The 9-month long Page and Waller Traffic Circle Pilot program is coming to a
close, and the Department of Parking and Traffic is holding a public hearing
TOMORROW, THURSDAY MARCH 18TH to hear from residents and users of the
street. This is your chance to voice ideas, concerns, and opinions about
this traffic calming experiment. Each of the 11 proposed circles will be
voted on by residents living within a block, and voting will conclude March
25th. The circle receiving the highest percentage of votes (over 50%) will
be installed on a permanent basis, with consideration for others that also
receive 50% or more of the vote.

The meeting will be held:

6:30pm-8pm this Thursday, March 18th
Park Branch Library
1833 Page St. at Cole

The SFBC supports the concept of the traffic calming circles, but shares the
concerns of many other residents and neighborhood groups, including Walk SF
and the Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council, that:

1) there was not sufficient neighborhood outreach or involvement prior to
circle installation

2) more education and public outreach is needed to users of the street to
convey safe and legal behavior at the circles

3) pedestrian right-of-way is being compromised with the current circle
design

Although we don't think the current design is perfect, we are encouraging
our members and other residents living along the Page and Waller corridor to
VOTE YES to give the circles a chance to be improved upon.

BICYCLE BOULEVARDS

Given the right education, signage, and enforcement, we believe the circles
will benefit the neighborhood and cyclists by being the first step toward a
true bicycle boulevard on Page St.

A bike boulevard is an innovative bicycle facility that is often applied to
residential streets that parallel major arterials. It consists of three
design elements:

1. stop signs placed only on side streets to give priority to the boulevard

2. traffic circles installed in at least some of the intersections to slow
cars down to 10-15mph while allowing bikes to maintain momentum

3. diverters, barriers or forced turns that prohibit automobile through
access on the bike boulevard while continuing to allow cyclists,
pedestrians, and emergency vehicles through.

A bicycle boulevard treatment applied to Page St. could dramatically reduce
the volume and speed of traffic, and reduce or eliminate stop signs, making
bicycling along Page much easier, safer, more efficient and pleasant. It
would not "close" the street to cars- drivers would still be able to access
every point along Page, but using this neighborhood street as an auto cut
through would be a thing of the past.

Although the DPT is not considering a full bicycle boulevard currently,
Thursday's meeting will be a good chance to voice your support for this
concept, and build support among local residents.

You can find out more about bicycle boulevards at:
http://www.odot.state.or.us/techserv/bikewalk/planimag/ii1e.htm

DPT's web page on the circles is at
http://www.sfgov.org/site/dpt_index.asp?id=13573

Because of vocal opposition to the circles, it is particularly important for
people to come and speak at the hearing about the benefits of traffic
calming and a bicycle boulevard along Page St. For more information,
contact me (using the information at the bottom of this e-mail).

TALKING POINTS FOR THURSDAY'S MEETING

- There are problems with the implementation of the circles, but the concept
is good. We need better signage (yield to peds pop-up signs, and stops
where appropriate)

- A full bicycle boulevard (including side street stop signs, circles, and
diverters) will dramatically reduce car traffic on this residential street,
prioritizing the street for cyclists and pedestrians.

- Vote yes on the circles!

Thank you for supporting YOUR Bicycle Coalition and an improved bike
network!