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Re: Brian Peoples Wants Track Removed From Beach Street In Santa Cruz
Author: mook
Date: 05-04-2015 - 09:08
After all the heat in this item, I looked at some aerials (Google sat view still shows the old configuration, as of this morning at least) to try to get a little light. Mr. Peeps may have a point - the roundabout does cause a potential problem. It doesn't justify the rest of his tirade, obviously.
No guarantees that the old configuration will show much longer, but it was in Google sat view as of 5/4/15: [www.google.com]
Before the roundabout, the tracks curved through an area that was not part of the street. It was striped off from both bicycle and vehicle traffic, but was paved for access to a couple of driveways (and for easier maintenance I presume). Some people probably screamed through there to cut off traffic, but given the one-way layout of Beach Street and the 2-way layout of Pacific probably not many. Bicyclists may have used it too (almost certainly did), but again the main route didn't go there - the bike lane is on the beach side of Beach Street, avoiding the rails, and on Pacific the rail crossing was at maybe a 45deg angle (not too bad), and well marked by the contrasting concrete pavers.
With the roundabout, traffic is now on and parallel to the tracks for a short stretch heading to northbound Pacific, including bicycle traffic from the wharf area. Motorcycles might not like it either. Unlike at the Casino (https://www.google.com/maps/@36.9641778,-122.0200729,82m/data=!3m1!1e3) there's no practical way to jog a bike path across the tracks at a near-90deg angle. So the problem is probably real, and is created by the design of the roundabout. Bicyclists will need to pay unusual attention to the tracks there (while also paying attention to traffic in a tight space) because of the way the roundabout was designed. Perhaps
The solution has to be with the road designers - they caused the problem. The railroad hasn't changed, and the old configuration didn't have the problem. Certainly not a reason (except in BP's mind) to yank the rails.
No guarantees that the old configuration will show much longer, but it was in Google sat view as of 5/4/15: [www.google.com]
Before the roundabout, the tracks curved through an area that was not part of the street. It was striped off from both bicycle and vehicle traffic, but was paved for access to a couple of driveways (and for easier maintenance I presume). Some people probably screamed through there to cut off traffic, but given the one-way layout of Beach Street and the 2-way layout of Pacific probably not many. Bicyclists may have used it too (almost certainly did), but again the main route didn't go there - the bike lane is on the beach side of Beach Street, avoiding the rails, and on Pacific the rail crossing was at maybe a 45deg angle (not too bad), and well marked by the contrasting concrete pavers.
With the roundabout, traffic is now on and parallel to the tracks for a short stretch heading to northbound Pacific, including bicycle traffic from the wharf area. Motorcycles might not like it either. Unlike at the Casino (https://www.google.com/maps/@36.9641778,-122.0200729,82m/data=!3m1!1e3) there's no practical way to jog a bike path across the tracks at a near-90deg angle. So the problem is probably real, and is created by the design of the roundabout. Bicyclists will need to pay unusual attention to the tracks there (while also paying attention to traffic in a tight space) because of the way the roundabout was designed. Perhaps
The solution has to be with the road designers - they caused the problem. The railroad hasn't changed, and the old configuration didn't have the problem. Certainly not a reason (except in BP's mind) to yank the rails.
