Road and Trail Closures in South County on 9/23/12

As a public safety message reminder from yesterday’s OC Register regarding road closures in the south county:

The following roads and trails will be closed to the public between the hours of 06:00 thru 13:00:

  • San Juan Creek Bike Trail  – closed between Doheny State Beach and Calle Arroyo
  • La Novia Avenue  – closed between San Juan Creek Road and Calle Arroyo

Also being closed from 06:30 to 09:30 is: Northbound La Pata Avenue

Ortega Highway, traffic will be reduced to one lane between Avenida Siega and Antonio Parkway from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Eastbound Ortega Highway from Antonio Parkway to El Cariso Village will be closed from 06:30 to 12:30.

Not mentioned from the Register is that there was/is signage through Doheny Beach and Campground as well as the protected bike lane from Beach to Capistrano indicating that that they also will be closed until 16:00.

If you’re trying to get some miles in for the OC Gran Fondo, ride elsewhere, or take PCH straight through Dana Point and into San Clemente. Marguerite to Avery to  Camino Capistrano to Del Obispo will get you there from the inland county, or you could take Marguerite all the way to Ortega to work your way through traffic to Del Obispo.

If you go out on PCH the problem will be on the return if the protected area is still closed because your access to Harbor is cutoff unless you take the sidewalk from Palisades / Beach, or ride the on ramp (watch for traffic coming from the right at the gore point) back onto PCH. Or, you could have a real workout and take a left at the dreaded Stonehill and take it through the rollies to Niguel, or take the easy way by turning left on Del Obispo (which turns into Harbor after crossing PCH) so you have the option of climbing PCH, Golden Lantern, or for extra bonus points, Cove.

We earlier looked at both websites for the City of Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano for guidance regarding closures and found nothing posted at the time. We are concerned because the current closures differ materially from the “strongly discourage” language used previously as can be seen in our original post about the event here. Each City referred our inquiry to the promoter, who assures us that:

“We have worked diligently with all agencies & cities to obtain permits for the use of trails, streets and a highway and to provide comprehensive advanced notification to the residents of Dana Point & San Juan Capistrano (and beyond).”

..so maybe we’re getting worked up over nothing because we didn’t get the memo.

Plan your routes carefully – it looks like a warm weekend and all the popular and safe southern routes are out of play this Sunday.

Saturday be aware of car parking and extra traffic at Trestles for the Surfing Championship.

Finally, the injured rider from last Thursday the 13th was registered to be in Sunday’s Tri, We’ve  asked that her entrance fee be refunded from the promoter. We’ll let you know his response when we receive it.

Bike Blvds in Anaheim?

The City of Anaheim is proposing Bicycle Boulevards on Lemon and Santa Ana Streets and want your feedback at an OPEN HOUSE Saturday, September 22, 2012  from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at the Pearson Park Amphitheatre Patio 401 Lemon Street, Anaheim, CA 92805.

The proposal includes removing the north bound traffic lane on Lemon St. between North St. and Cypress St. to accommodate bike paths. The rest of Lemon and Santa Ana will have sharrows– where cars and bikes share a single lane.

Anaheim Plan

Anaheim Plan

It isn’t really clear, but it appears that there is a runner in the bike lane running against traffic, and if so the position of the rider and runner should be reversed, or the runner could use the sidewalk without putting either at risk.  But this is a great graphic to depict the proposal and initiate comment.

Fun With Maps

Maps are fun, and I’ve always liked to look at and play with them.

Orange County looks like a rectangle standing on one corner doesn’t it?  
If we take a map of the county, apply a grid like this:
(note: grid not to scale – for illustration only)
 
then apply an overlay of installed bike paths / lanes,
( locations are approximate)Please note the dark areas indicating a lack of bike paths / lanes
 
then rotate the map counter-clockwise  like so:  

We can now transform the map and reduce it to identify the class 1 bikeways and the corresponding population centers. What we have left looks like this:

OC Bikebone

OC Bikebone

There just seems to be something wrong with this picture, but I can’t seem to put my finger on it…

Sharrows in Corona Del Mar – Oct.?

Last July 10th,  the City Council of Newport Beach voted 5-1 for sharrows in Corona Del Mar. While it’s been a long time coming, don’t look for them appearing soon, because despite funding being available to “get ‘er done”, according to Mayor Nancy Gardner, ““They aren’t going on the ground tomorrow. We have education to do so we don’t have culture shock to motorists.”

A proper buffered bike lane on PCH in San Diego:

Northbound Pacific Highway heading north from Taylor Street

Northbound Pacific Highway heading north from Taylor Street

The dissenting vote was cast by Councilman Steve Rosansky, and Councilmember Leslie Daigle was absent. Many people spoke at the meeting in support of  putting paint on the road through Corona del Mar.

However, the Corona del Mar Residents Association (CdMRA) wants sharrows delayed until other traffic problems such as cyclists on sidewalks, and other issues are addressed and taken care of.  In fact, the headline in the 7/10/12 Corona del Mar Today reads: “CdMRA to Mayor: Make CdM Streets Safer Before Adding Sharrows“.

We hasten to state the obvious that adding sharrows is designed to make streets safer for everyone, and will probably remove the need for cyclists on the sidewalks as well, so the sooner the paint is on the pavement the better.

Great coverage in Corona Del Mar Today from 7/10, and some comments are chillingly hilarious if they’re meant to be funny;  indictable if serious.

We’ll post the scheduled  painting / “installation” when it is available, and we thank the City Council of Newport Beach and the Bicycle Safety Committee for advancing road safety in Newport Beach.

In the meantime here are some additional pictures of what is and what could be:

Sharrow in Use

Sharrow in Use – Toronto – Photo – Dylan Passmore

LB Bike Lane

Long Beach Buffered Bike Lane – Photo: Waltarrrrr

Rumor has it that we might see sharrows in be October.