Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Back up and running

I have no idea if anyone actually watches to see if this blog is active or not, but for anyone out there that does, sorry about the hiatus. I'm going to try to keep this up a little better this time around.

A lot has happened in the last year here in Medford. One thing is my appointment to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) here in the city. That should give me a good view on issues with bicycles and commuting here. Other things include the installation of bicycle lanes on Jackson and Hillcrest streets following the rebuild.

I use Jackson and Hillcrest, usually east of Springbrook to get from my place to my Mother-in-law's place, and I have to admit that having the bike lanes on that stretch of road is really nice. Now, the only time I have to ride without bike lanes, going that way, is on Crater Lake Ave. north of Delta Waters. I can use the bike lanes on Delta Waters east of CL Ave, and Springbrook has at least some bike lanes.

The area of CL Ave. north of Delta Waters still leaves much to be desired, but that's about to change. The BPAC just reviewed plans to fix CL Ave. between Owens and Coker Butte. The intersection at Webfoot will be going away, and they're going to be swinging CL Ave. east at both Owens and Coker Butte, moving the intersection away from CL Hwy. Also, they'll be signalizing intersections of Coker Butte and Owens Dr. with CL Hwy. The intersection of Cardinal with CL Hwy (by Costco), will turn into a right-in, right-out intersection with no light. 5' bike lanes are slated to be included in the redesign of CL Ave. and sidewalks will be put in on the east side of the street so as not to interfere with CL Hwy.

I'm stoked about this improvement, because it means I'll only have do deal with no bike lanes on the two-lane, high-speed CL Ave. north of Delta Waters for about a block. After that, CL Ave turns into two lanes each way, which means when I feel more threatened, I can just take the whole lane and people can pass in the left lane.

For anyone in Medford going my way (from CL Ave just south of Coker Butte to CL Ave and McAndrews), feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I'd love to ride with you.

Other updates: I'm going to keep an eye out for news regarding bicycling in Oregon, specifically commuting, and I'll keep an update here, so check back for those.

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