Last week, after I posted the photo of the dangerous rain grate on Bike Lane FAIL, I tweeted to the folks in charge: “@SJ_Bikeshare The rain grate on SB Coleman at Airport Blvd is very dangerous old style. Would you please replace it? http://wp.me/p1sDc4-3l6″. I expected a response, but I wasn’t holding my breath.
Lo and behold, I got a tweet in return yesterday: “Hey @ladyfleur, guess what…. New bike friendly drainage grate! http://pic.twitter.com/en6wUOKm”. After work I rode down to check it out myself. Works great. Thank you, Jesse Quiron, John Brazil and the San Jose DOT for the blazing fast response fixing this road hazard!
Location: Coleman Avenue at Airport Blvd, San Jose, California, USA. Special thanks to the folks at the City of San José Department of Transportation Bicycle and Pedestrian Program for resolving this problem so quickly.
Rachel Unger
August 16, 2012 at 5:43 pm
Wonderful – way to go San Jose! :)
TinLizzie72
August 16, 2012 at 7:44 pm
Wow, that’s really impressive! Are they going to be replacing the others? (You mentioned these were still around all over the city)
ladyfleur
August 17, 2012 at 2:19 pm
No, thank goodness the other grates just down the road were a different, safer model. This one was an outlier.
I was wondering why they even manufacture the dangerous type at all, then I drove on the freeway and saw the bike-dangerous type there. I think they drain the road faster/clog less and since it’s on a freeway, no need to worry about bikes.
Leah Toeniskoetter
August 16, 2012 at 10:09 pm
Yeah to our bike planners at DOT!!
samapoc
August 17, 2012 at 3:36 am
Refreshing to see this happen so quickly!
ladyfleur
August 17, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Yes, I was surprised it was so quick. But then again, the grate was a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Andrew Boone
August 17, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Congratulations – you’re an inspiration to us all! Those old-style grate are really scary – I didn’t know any of those still existed around here.
But why isn’t San Jose installing the even-better drains that are flush will the vertical face of the curb and don’t protrude into the bike lane at all? Those are recommended by the Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) Bicycle Technical Guidelines.
ladyfleur
August 17, 2012 at 2:25 pm
Andrew, I thought the old-style ones were out of commission too, but I saw one on the freeway last night. I’m guessing they are more efficient for clearing the water and don’t clog as easily with leaves.
As for why not the new vertical-face design, I can’t answer for the city. It may be because the curbs and sidewalks were built before the guidelines were completed. At any rate making that change to existing roadways would certainly take more than the few days it took to get this one replaced.
Dardi Limo
August 20, 2012 at 4:16 am
It is nice that you are using your bike. It also saves the environment when you use the bicycle.