Another busy intersection, another re-design, another vanishing bike lane. Caltrain wanted to keep cars from getting caught on the tracks when the signal turns red. The county engineers wanted to push more cars through the intersection. Too bad no one considered what happens to people riding in the bike lane.
The county’s plan shoehorned in a second left turn lane, which meant shoving the right lane further to the right, squeezing out the bike lane and forcing bikes and cars into an unexpected merge. Caltrain may be happy and the drivers turning left may be happy, but the right lane is now a painful squeeze for everyone. Is it too much to ask the traffic engineers to consider bike safety along with rail safety and vehicle throughput?
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- The bike lane on Rengstorff Ave was installed decades ago, but the Caltrain crossing was redone late last year.
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- The young women stopped at the red light, waited for a break in traffic and then crossed on the red.
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- A smart move on their part, since raised lane markers force a merge of heavy vehicle traffic with bike traffic.
When the plans for this crossing and the crossing at Moffett were presented to the city council transportation committee, I spoke at the meeting and complained. The city engineer basically said it was the county’s design and there was little the city could do. I knew the changes would be bad, but they’re worse than I expected.
Location: Rengstorff Avenue at the Caltrain tracks/Central Expressway, Mountain View, California, USA.
