5th/6th Street Livability & Circulation Study
Traffic, Pedestrian, and Bicycle Safety
Safety is another concept strongly emphasized in Phase I. Similarly, it recurred in Phase II as an important theme. Enhanced safety can be understood as an implicit element of the “Education Corridor.”
The addition of a center turn lane would enhance safety along those segments of 5th/6th Street where there is none. However, the desire to maintain the existing curb locations prevailed. The CCAG was concerned roadway widening would have negative impacts on historic structures and private property. Similarly, the CCAG struggled with safely accommodating bicycles and transit in separate lanes. Buses travel faster than the average bicycle, however, due to frequent stops, buses tend to overtake bicyclists, then pull in front of them in order to pick up and discharge passengers. This can set up a “leapfrog” effect, where the bus overtakes and passes the same cyclist over and over again. While the Project Team expressed concern about the safety of identifying a transit lane adjacent to a bicycle lane and about designating a transit-only lane where there is no center turn lane, the CCAG felt strongly about providing specified transit facilities along 5th/6th Street.
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