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I went for a bike ride this morning - and my route took me along Pine Avenue here in Holland, MI.

If you’ve never been to Holland, Pine is a major thoroughfare which allows Northbound traffic to get downtown.  You can also see in the picture - it’s also a heavy industrial area with both a power plant and a metal recycling yard.  In addition to three lanes of regular vehicle traffic this means lots of semis and the occasional steelyard train.

Holland is also known for its bike paths -  there are over 60 miles of it in the area. Since the North and South sides of Holland are bisected by a river, there are only a couple of ways to get across from one side to the other.  It was obvious that this route needed a bikepath since the next closest bridge would be another 5-6 miles added to your ride.

Obviously there was a concern about putting bike traffic through such a busy area.  What could be done to prevent biker/semi accidents?

Here is the answer the city came up with - sets of staggered gates that bookend each drive across the bikepath.  There are 12 sets of these gates in a one-mile stretch of bike path.

So what’s the problem?

These gates utterly fail at their intended task.

And no - I don’t have evidence of increased collisions due to having them installed vs. before.

But here’s what I’ve seen and experienced riding through this area a number of times.

First - a few of these gates are located next to parking lots.  Riders can simply veer a couple feet to one side and bypass a couple of sets of gates by riding through the parking lot instead.

Second - in a couple places riders can just go through a couple of feet of grass and get around another set or two.

Third - the increased hassle of dealing with the gates starts to make riding in the street look more attractive.  I’m no hard-core biker, and usually prefer to be on the bikepaths.  And - this is a busy stretch of road, where I’d especially prefer to not be in the street.  But the gates are such a pain that I do seriously consider it each time I ride through.

Fourth - and this is the one that bothers me the most.  These gates have exactly the opposite effect on lowering risk of accidents.  Why?  If these gates weren’t there, when I ride through this area I could focus all my attention on watching for cross-traffic. Now I have to both watch for cross traffic and negotiate the gates.  My cognitive load is doubled—I can’t be looking back in the lots and steelyard for traffic because I’m too busy making sure I don’t bite it getting through the gates.

I’m glad of one thing - see the circular cover set into the sidewalk between the gates?  When they first went in, there was a 4’ steel post filled with cement there.

All in all these gates are just evidence of a committee trying too hard to help a situation, and in the end having exactly the opposite effect.

And I have to ask myself…in the work that I do, building websites for users and configuring a CMS to power the site, am I putting up gates that my clients and their visitors just find ways to go around?

Comments are closed, but you can read the comments other people left.

1. Bernd on October 16, 2008

   Well put, Mike!

   I am a biker too, your blogentry reminded me on an accident a few month ago in a situation which resembles the picture above (only the green between the bike-lane and the street was broader an we didn’t have such horrible gates). A cardriver didn’t see me and crossed my path right before me. No Chance for me, i hit him full speed and took a flight over his car. Happy me, i landed on the concret with just a few scratches and bruises.

   So, in the end, it boils down to the same expression: If people don’t care then all else is just turning away their attention from dangerous situations and get theme a dangerous “comfortable feeling” of beeing safe. And just the opposite is true…

   This is especially true here in germany where we tend to overregulate.

   Happy Biking!

   Bernd

2. Ty (tzmedia) on October 16, 2008

   Over regulate, my thoughts exactly.
   So were the local do-gooders on the committee mainly Democrats or Republicans, if it was a political decision that is, we are all dying to know. Indeed maybe my very presidential vote hangs in the balance :)
   I’ve got my hunches which it was, but I’m waiting before passing judgement;)

   I’ve never seen anything quite like that, they might just as well add some speed bumps, only a bicycle popping wheelies could cross. A front wheelie to get the front over and a back wheelie to get the rear rim over. Better yet can’t the Boink Pogo Stick just jump an entire gate??#!?

3. Ty (tzmedia) on October 16, 2008

   Thanks for the read Mike, glad you’ve got the bike out, I’ve been threatening to give mine a tune up it’s a Fuji 21 speed racer with 110 psi tires, that might be a problem in those urban environs.

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