Ridge Road Cycle Track
Written By: James B. Jones, P.E.
GObike Buffalo and the City of Lackawanna, NY have partnered to design and install a two-way protected bikeway on Ridge Road as part of effort to engage residents, businesses and street users in the principals of walkability and bikeabilty. The project is expected to remain in place for about two years while community input and community awareness adapt and assimilate to the change in travel patterns.
The City of Lackawanna has been experiencing decline in their business district and feeling that truck traffic has imparted a significant detriment to their quality of life as a community. They reached out to GObike Buffalo, a Buffalo, NY based active transportation advocacy organization, for assistance with bringing about healthy change.
The city had a “road diet” traffic study completed by others in May of 2020 which supported one travel lane in each direction. Ridge Road is a 46 feet wide (47 feet actual), 30 MPH urban principal arterial which was stripped with a double yellow centerline between NYS Rt 5 and South Park Avenue. The existing AADT was 12,666 in 2017. The 1.25 mile corridor has six traffic signals including the intersection at South Park Avenue. The city added a High Intensity Activated CrossWalK (HAWK) beacon in 2019 in the study segment to improve pedestrian crossing opportunity. Parking is generally permitted on both sides of the street. Hourly bus service is also provided along the study corridor. Additionally, the city is preparing to upgrade the traffic signals at Electric Avenue and South Park Avenue with high resolution video detection and adaptive traffic signal control.
GObike provided the city with three different options for Ridge Road in May 2020 to advance discussion and review by city officials. Each option limited travel lanes to one in each direction. The first option included a protected two-way cycle track on the north side of the street which would entail restricting parking, the second option included parking protected bike lanes on each side and the third option included a parking protected bike lane on the south side and a buffered bike lane on the north side. The city selected the cycle track on the north side for best meeting their goals and objectives.
Figure 1, selected typical section option for Ridge Road between Fuhrmann Blvd. and Electric Ave. View to west.
The US Department of Transportation advocates the use of pilot projects as an effective education and outreach tool for employing Complete Streets principles. In addition, design guidance from NACTO Urban Street Design Guide, Urban Bikeway Design Guide, ITE Design & Safety of Pedestrian Facilitates, Protected Bikeways Practitioner Guide, MUTCD and FHWA Separated Bike Lane Planning and Design Guide were used to inform the project design guidance.
The selection of the two-way cycle track on a two-way arterial present both challenges and opportunities. The main challenge is the introduction of contraflow traffic conditions between westbound motor vehicle traffic and eastbound bicycle traffic. This method is being deployed in major metropolitan areas such as New York City, Washington DC, Portland OR, Vancouver BC, Toronto ON. These case studies and design guidance as mentioned above are beginning to broaden the available examples and resources needed to further their use. The addition of the four foot wide painted buffer with flexible delineator posts provide the cost effective desired horizontal and vertical separation within the existing pavement section. Narrowed travel lanes also help reduce operating speeds to meet the posted limit.
The city authorized GObike Buffalo in August 2020 to proceed with design and implementation of the cycle track option originally between Fuhrmann Blvd and South Park Avenue however during implementation the city modified the limit to Electric Avenue. This modification provided bicycle connectivity on Electric Avenue between Nason Parkway and Ridge Road using Sharrows and a contraflow bike lane on Nason Parkway between Electric Avenue and South Park Avenue. The city also included the addition of traditional five foot bicycle lanes on South Park Avenue between McKinley Avenue in the City of Buffalo and Ridge Road. Bicycle lanes exist on McKinley Parkway and on South Park Avenue north of McKinley Avenue. This provided desired connectivity to adjacent bicycle facilities and South Park which is an Olmstead designed legacy park which hosts the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Garden. In addition, Erie County just completed the installation of the Shoreline Trail along the west side of Fuhrmann Boulevard which provides connectivity to the regional bicycle network. Furthermore, GObike is completing a feasibility study for the future 80-mile Southern Tier Trail that will cross Ridge Road about 0.5 mile east of South Park Avenue.
GObike designed the project using Remix© which is a Software as a Service (SaaS) tool. The software is web based and utilizes drag and drop style tools to quickly and easily configure street segments and intersections in a GIS like data driven environment. The software allows collaboration with other agencies such as the local transit authority, city officials and the general public who can add site specific comments within the application. The design was completed by the end of August and implementation began in the first week of September and took about 15 days to complete.
Figure 2, Remix plan for Ridge Road at Electric Avenue and Nason Pkwy at Electric Ave.
The design required relocation of the existing center lane strip four feet south to accommodate the new pavement markings of the design section. A traffic sign plan was also included and was accomplished using customizable elements in Remix. Unique elements also included the installation of green pavement marking announcing vehicular/bicycle conflict areas at intersections and driveways and the introduction of dark red pavement marking to emphasis the integrated bus stops within the cycle track. There are four bus stops within the project cycle track limit. Signs for eastbound bicyclists to yield to bus are included. The painted buffer between westbound motor vehicle traffic and eastbound bicycles has hatch striping every 12 feet and flexible yellow delineator posts centered within the buffer zone every 24 feet, on the cycle track center lane at intersections and major driveways and at a few of the painted curb radii reduction lines. Additionally, flexible and mountable Rubberform© bus curbs to distinguish the cycle track from the travel lane at intersections and major driveways.
Twenty one driveways and nine minor intersections cross the cycle track’s 1.24 mile length. Continental style crosswalks and stop bars were installed at all intersection legs. A parking lane/travel edgeline was added along the south side of Ridge Road and edgelines were added on excessively wide minor intersections. The cycle track also has bicycle symbols with flow direction arrows at intersection and major driveway start points and every 250 feet along the bikeway. Sharrows are painted at major driveways at with the bus stop areas as well within the Ridge and Electric intersection, on Electric Avenue and eastbound Nason Parkway. Nason Parkway was recently converted to a one-way eastbound street by the city prior to the project to reduce cut through traffic avoiding the Ridge Road and South Park Avenue intersection.
Ridge Road includes a twelve track railroad bridge span that is about .075 miles long and 53 feet wide along the bridge deck. The bikeway buffer was increased from four feet to 9 feet within this segment. Upon completion and even during installation, vehicular speed reductions were observed as well as increased bicycle activity. Unfortunately, pre-implementation vehicular speeds and bicycle count data did not exist. Bicycle counts were performed during installation and post monitoring is planned in 2021 during the project operating and monitoring period. At this point, the city DPW is planning to remove the 260 vertical delineators that were installed using a butyl adhesive tape for resuming winter snow removal operations.
Figure 3, East end cycle track terminus at Ridge Road and Electric Avenue. (Signage not installed yet) Parking lane exists opposite intersection approach.
Figure 4, West end cycle track terminus at Ridge Road and Shoreline Trail