Hot Spots on PCH

Ask a touring cyclist, Laguna is the most dangerous bottleneck from Oregon to the Mexican border, no wonder since there are no provisions for cycling on PCH. To improve cycling safety and reduce traffic congestion, develop the alternative mobility modes.

The competition for cyclists with motorists, Broadway at PCH.

A Sharrow is the only reasonable option through downtown.

Emergency parking bounded by fog line, North Emerald Bay today.

This is a bike-lane?  Caltrans thinks so. LBPD says so. The OC Register says so.  On 17 June 2014 John Colvin was killed here while riding his bike right of that white fog line. Nearly three years have passed and still no provisions for PCH cyclists, today the safest place for a cyclist on PCH remains riding the OCTA bus.


 

Ghost Bike for John Colvin

The collision occurred at North Emerald Bay.

 Caltrans take a Memo: this is a genuine bike lane. Bike lanes have design features enumerated by NACTO in their Urban Bikeway Design Guide and feature signage, roadway symbols, buffering, at times green paint: a WAKE-UP call for motorists. A Wikipedia reference: Cycling Infrastructure is here.

Merging cycle traffic on a San Mateo parkway. (Streetsblog)

Three years after a fatal collision claimed the life of cyclist Lauren Ward of Los Altos and several years of unrelenting pressure by residents, Caltrans and San Mateo Public Works installed this buffered bike lane on Alpine Road. The same should be done for PCH as the roadways are very similar.

Menlo Park Council Member Kristen Keith at Alpine and 280.

Likewise this bike lane under a San Mateo overpass is similar to the dangerously dark overpass at 73 Toll Road and Laguna Canyon Road, the same design considerations apply at LCR. (Streetsblog SF)

-LS