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Rattlesnake Dr., in front of Rattlesnake Gardens

        This bike lane shows that citizens and government can work together to fix problems. The bike lane was originally striped too narrow and then fixed a few days later. The new line to the left makes for a proper bike lane. The old lane was only 30” wide, forcing cyclists too close to the gutter pan seam. The city engineer originally wanted to wait a year until the paint wore off to correct the problem but, under direction from city council, fixed the problem within days.

MIST director Bob Giordano had asked City Council to act on this issue immediately and City Council responded positively. Citizen advocacy plays an important role in shaping transportation.

One other note: the old (inside) lane line should be covered with grey paint or grinded away. If not, confusion will exist as to where bikes should be. This may pose a serious safety hazard, especially in the winter when the snow comes. For example, a motor vehicle may follow the inside lane closely while a cyclist follows the outside line. This could cause a crash.

       If Rattlesnake Dr. had not been fixed, then unsafe situations- like having a sign pole in the handlebar zone- would have persisted for at least a year. Small hazards like this can add up to the point where people will be forced to stopped cycling.

       This low hanging tree on Rattlesnake Dr. presents a problem with both the old bike lane and the new bike lane. The tree should be trimmed to give a minimum of 8’ of height clearance so cyclists will not have to suddenly swerve into the motor vehicle lane.

Van Buren Dr., a half mile north of Van Buren/ Broadway intersection

        This picture shows a good cross section for facilitating harmony between motor vehicles and bicycles. The motor vehicle lane is 10’ wide- just about the minimum to accommodate the larger vehicles, like buses (the legal width limit for motor vehicles is 8’6”, the width of many large buses).

       The bike lane is 6’ wide, a preferable width for most of Missoula’s bike lanes. In fact, this may be the future cross section for all of Missoula’s arterials: 10’ motor vehicle lane width and 6’ bike lane width.

Connections and auxiliary components of a bike lane system are important too…

The entryway to the Van Buren foot bridge is poorly designed. The curb cuts should be more direct.	A nice trail for a U entryway exists on the south of the foot bridge. This was created by simply moving back the parked cars.
A confusing situation exists at the Adams field center. More car-free areas need to exist in this area. A mini-roundabout can work too.	Over flowing bicycling parking is a sign of a healthy city. This is an indicator that Missoula needs to put more effort into safe and accessible biking facilities.

North on Van Buren near I-90

      Heading north on Van Buren, the cyclist is treated with a nice wide bike lane. A small sign alerts the rider that the ‘ Bikeway Narrows.’

     Dangerously, the bike lane does not narrow, but disappears. To fix this problem, the motor vehicle lanes could be narrowed from 12’ to 10’. This would allow room for a 4’ bike lane. At the very least, the white line should be dashed to let cyclists and motorists know that there will be some merging. If a roundabout were utilized at Van Buren/ Broadway, then one motor vehicle lane would suffice. Even without a roundabout (which would increase capacity), a motor vehicle lane could be replaced with a wide bike lane.

Orange Street, looking south near 3 rd St.

       Orange Street needs bike lanes. Bike lanes exist on the Orange St. bridge to the north and on Stephens Ave. to the south. Bike lanes can be integrated into the existing street width here by either narrowing the motor vehicle lanes (note the extra room by the bus) or implementing a road diet to 3-lanes (the traffic volumes are in the range that this would work). A combination of lane narrowing and road dieting (known as a lane reconfiguration) could be the best solution to facilitate good transportation safety and flow.

Stephens Ave. looking south near Beckwith

        Shown here is an example of bike lanes wrongly striped, then corrected. This is another example of why Missoula needs better bike lane standards and more attention on designing, building and maintaining the biking and transportation system. Getting the lanes right the first time saves money and confusion.

       MIST proposes that most Missoula arterials be renovated to the following cross section: 6’ bike lane, 10’ motor vehicle lane, 11’ center turn lane (with landscaping and pedestrian crossings), 10’ motor vehicle lane, 6’ bike lane.

       Also shown in this picture is an incorrectly placed bulb out- the bulb out should not extend into the bike lane as it does here at the corner of Stephens and Beckwith. The back wheel of a baby buggy or utility trailer could catch the curb edge and dump the contents into the road. This should be fixed immediately to prevent any tragedies.

Higgins Ave., just north of the curve where Pattee Canyon enters

       This bike lane violates all standards. The bike lane is 22” wide, not counting the gutter pan. The seam between the gutter pan and asphalt will soon crack and widen and become a dangerous ‘wheel catcher.’ This bike lane is in front of the University’s Lewis and Clark student housing and is an important bike route for all ages. The motor vehicle lane is 11’ 2” is unnecessarily wide and encourages speeding. The center turn lane is also too wide.

The motor vehicle lanes should be narrowed to 10’ and the bike lanes widened to 6’.

Higgins Ave. looking south near Central

       This is an example of bike lanes wrongly striped, then corrected. The old lines have been covered up with grey paint. Citizens with keen eyes that carry tape measures are a powerful tool in ensuring that bike lanes get done right.

       The old bike lane stripes dangerously routed cyclists into the ‘door zone’ of parked vehicles. Many cyclists are ‘doored’ each year in Missoula, especially in the downtown area. To solve the ‘dooring’ problem, bike lanes should be striped 3’ out from the parking lane.

       In this picture, moving the bike lane another foot away from the parked truck (or removing parking altogether) would create a safer flow for bicycles and motor vehicles.

South Ave., just east of South and Higgins intersection A

This bike lane is too narrow and shows poor design. An indicator that the lane is too narrow is that the stencil cannot fit in the designated area and spills into the gutter pan.

The sunken drainage grate and broken pavement compound the problem of the lane being too narrow, as riders may need to move to left to avoid a crash.

The motor vehicle lane can be narrowed and the bike lane widened to solve this problem.

Arthur Ave. looking north near Sussex

       This picture shows the chip seal tags where the old bike lane line used to be. MIST worked with Public Works to add a foot to the bike lane when the road was restriped. Chip sealing and other routing maintenance endeavors provide opportunities to improve Missoula’s biking system. Sometimes just repainting the street vastly improves the comfort and safety of both cyclists and motorists.

       The old bike lane was 5’ in width, the new bike lane pictured here is 6’ in width. Notice that there is still plenty of room to further narrow the motor vehicle lane. The extra room could go towards sidewalk widening or towards more green space.

Links:

In:

Accommodating Bike Lanes in Constrained Rights-of-Way (Nation Wide Survey Compiled by MIST) - Download Word version here.

Texas Bike Lane Article

Out:

Contact info: Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation

www.strans.org

mist@strans.org

406-880-6834

Director: Bob Giordano

About MIST