Willson Street Bike Lanes - Flex-post Re-Installation
Very soon, the flex-posts used to delineate the bike lanes on Willson Street will be re-installed, with some tweaks. Previously, the flex-posts were placed 20 feet - 40 feet apart. The new plan, shown below with red stars for the new post placements, has the flex-posts spaced 60 feet apart, providing ample room for cars to safely move over in the event that an emergency vehicle needs to get by.
In addition, the flex-posts will now end opposite the Salem High School driveway for cars approaching Highland Avenue. This gives a bit more room for the turn right-hand turn lane queue to form. In addition, the posts around Laurent Road have been spaced, giving more line-of-sight for drivers.
Details of the Bike Lane improvements beginning at Highland Avenue, including the driveway to Salem High and Horace Mann Laboratory Schools. The red stars indicate the new placement of the flex-posts, which will be spaced 60 feet apart. Note the end of the separated bike lane across from the driveway, allowing a longer right-lane queue onto Highland Avenue.
This is the detail design for the separated bike lanes on Willson Street, from the entrance to the golf course/Salem Woods to Laurent Road. Again, the flex-posts are now 60 feet apart, indicated by the red stars. This also shows how the intersection of Laurent Road and Willson Street has been narrowed through the use of paint, which helps to control traffic speeds at that curve.
There have been a few questions about the flex-posts themselves. As the name suggests, they are very lightweight, and are designed to bend at the base if a car veers into the bike lane. They are placed to help visually delineate the bike lane and add safety for bicyclists and pedestrians. They are inexpensive, and can easily be replaced in the event that a car causes one to be heavily damaged. The regulations for flex-posts call for them to be the same color as the road markings underneath them. So, in this case, if the road markings are white, the posts must be white, and if the road markings are yellow, the posts must be yellow. There are always new post designs being approved by the state, and the Traffic and Parking department will be looking at some new designs to determine if they will be better for Willson Street in particular. Each street is different in use, and therefore variety in the type of post or other lane demarcation is necessary. And because these posts are easily installed, they can be easily replaced when something better is found. Ultimately, sidewalk/bike lane permanent improvements will be made and these temporary posts won’t be necessary.
The city will again be performing a traffic study on Willson Street when the flex-posts are re-installed. As the data showed, traffic speeds decreased markedly when the flex-posts were installed in the fall. And after they were removed for the winter, speeds increased significantly and dangerously. We need to all be more aware of our speeds when driving on city streets, especially in school zones. Traveling at 65 MPH on Willson Street really doesn’t get you anywhere faster, because the road isn’t that long. And really, is speeding on any neighborhood street worth the risk of killing or harming another person?
