OPINION: 500 Words About Highway 50 Retrofit
Selective listeners welcomed CDOT traffic engineer Mike McVaugh’s June 16 presentation to City Council about Highway 50 speed limits and bike lanes.
You can listen to the entire two hour meeting (or any portion thereof) at this YouTube video posted by the City of Salida.
Some unreported quotes from McVaugh’s presentation:
"On that stretch of Highway 50, there have been 92 accidents in the last five years. 58 of those were intersection or access-related. Only two were bike-related. Two out of 92. It may go up. I can’t say it won’t. It’s relatively low. Right now you’ve had two accidents in five years with no markings for bikes out there. Do bike lanes potentially increase the number of bikes on the road which potentially increases that type of accident? Yes… If we [didn’t have] the 149 access points, it would be a lot safer.
"Every roadway is different, every condition is different, so you have to weigh all those elements. But one single change to Highway 50 won’t make a difference. It’s going to take more than that… It doesn’t fix the speed issue on this road. You need to look at gateway medians, pedestrian refuges and greater enforcement. That taken as a whole will change the speed.
"If you add bike lanes, speed limit will stay as it is right now, until you do another traffic study. If I told you that if I put bike lanes in I’ll drop the speed limit, I’d be lying. I can’t guarantee it.
"My problem is, there’s a lot of data out there. I have to give Cynda Green some positive comment on this. She says all of these studies, they didn’t do just one change, and analyze the one change, they did a series of changes, so I can’t say exactly, conclusively, but I can tell you when you get a 5 mph speed reduction, the propensity for a severe accident goes down with that…"
McVaugh repeatedly stated, however, that he can’t guarantee the proposed Highway 50 retrofit will slow down drivers. It will reduce the center turn lane from 16 feet wide to 11 feet, the inner lanes from 12 feet to 10.5 feet, and the outside lanes from 14 feet to 11 feet — in order to add 5 foot bike lanes with 2 foot buffers. With no guarantee of reduced vehicle speeds.
In spite of McVaugh’s disclaimer, two dozen cyclists publicly commented on June 16 that current speed conditions are dangerous, and they support bike lanes to lower speed limits. Selective listening.
McVaugh stated repeatedly that the entire “package” — gateway medians, pedestrian refuges, bike lanes, and greater enforcement — would surely reduce speeds.
CDOT and Salida are playing Russian Roulette with the safety of those who travel Highway 50, if they only add retrofitted bike lanes. The City already has funding for gateway medians and additional signage. The prudent thing to do is to postpone the bike lanes until the “package” can be installed, even if it means temporarily raising the speed on the town outskirts.
It’s unfortunate that CDOT threatens to increase the speeds, when they can’t guarantee reduced speeds with retrofitted bike lanes. Perhaps they can make an exception to their rule, for safety’s sake?
