Some think it is a good idea, some think oh my God, someone is going to get killed. Some say, I would not ride on that thing if you paid me. These someones are speaking of the new bike lanes on West Hundred Road through Chester.
The concept was bandied about some four-and-a-half years ago. The idea was not actually conceived at that time but was included in the Board of Supervisors approved Chester Village Plan some 12 years ago. The idea of a pedestrian/bicycle friendly Village was a major item in the plan. Fast forward from 2004 and the work has been completed or so it seems to someone who was not involved at the time.
A letter was sent to the Chesterfield County Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) reiterating the wants of the Village and referencing the Village Plan. These letters were dated April 24, 2008 and May 27, 2009.
Another letter sent to CDOT in 2009 included grant proposals, which at the time would have tapped into a program called “Safe Routes to School.”
The letter stated in part: “forwarding three copies each of two proposals for safety grant funding. If you recall, you had mentioned that any grant requests must wait in an extended line. I am told, however, that safety grants are treated differently. So I am sending the two requests on behalf of the Chester Community Association.”
All of the letters were written by a CCA member who knows the ropes.
The proposal for upgraded crosswalks and the restriping of West Hundred Road, to include bike lanes and slow traffic as to make it safer, was much different than what is just about completed.
The recommendation was:
- Without changing the cross section or any additional construction activity, use pavement markings to delineate two five foot bicycle lanes by properly transitioning and narrowing the existing five 12’ travel lanes to five 10’ travel lanes.
- Conduct a proper speed limit study after the implementation of the lane narrowing to lower the speed limit from 35MPH to 30MPH.
- Post a Bicycle Warning Sign and Share the Road signs at both termini.
- Install stamped concrete or asphalt crosswalks at the intersections at Chester and Harrowgate roads.
How many of these recommendations have come about? None.
Our current situation provides two narrow-unsafe bike lanes, two wide travel lanes allowing traffic to exceed speed limits and a narrow turn lane, which is unsafe at least and frightening at best.
A lot of work went into the bike/ped idea but no thanks for the outcome.
2 Comments
I’m so glad someone wrote about this. I was so sad when I saw the lanes. It unfortunately gives non-cyclist the idea that cyclist now have bike lanes they can use. They will then wonder why we aren’t using them and use it as a reason we don’t need bike lanes.
The lanes are so narrow I can’t even imagine standing near the curb in the lane. The first time I saw the lane there were cars already driving over the line. The lanes are so narrow there is no room for error for the cyclist or driver.
Just 6″ from each lane would have made so much difference to the bike lane and made it usable.
I hope the lanes are revisited so they can be used.
Hopeful in Chester
It doesn’t sound like Faith is a road cyclist. Or if she is it’s only on her neighborhood street. I ride over 1000 miles a year road cycling. While a Chester resident for many years, I rode on the side of Rte. 10 through the Chester village area often sharing the road with hundreds of cars and very large, heavy trucks. There was no bike lanes for any of these rides. That was my inspiration for going to Supervisor Dorothy Jaeckle in early 2011 with the idea of promoting pedestrian and bike safety in Chester. Around that same time I joined the Chester Community Association (CCA). I presented the same idea to the CCA. I was told the CCA had previously requested these things but there had been no outcome. The positive and enthusiastic response from Mrs. Jaeckle had me thinking the outcome could be different this time around. It was. A process began in which, with Mrs. Jaeckle’s involvement, meetings occurred with officials with the Chesterfield Department of Transportation (CDOT). This led to a CDOT request of the CCA to present another letter detailing the need for improved pedestrian crossings on Rte.. 10 in Chester, bike lanes on Rte 10 in Chester, extending the existing sidewalk on Osborne Rd and Old Centralia Rd. This letter was delivered to CDOT in 2011. What followed next was a Citizen’s Committee put together by Mrs. Jaeckle to review the pedestrian safety needs in the Chester Village. This committee, of which I was a member, included representatives of businesses located in the village, as well as nearby residents. It meet a number of times with VDOT and CDOT officials to review and discuss the available options. As a member of the CCA, I reported back to that group with updates on the status of this project. This project took time. What also added to the time was getting into the VDOT queue for grant funding to help pay for certain aspects of the project. Eventually our turn came and our project began to take shape. Along the way, the folks at CDOT were helpful and accessible, as was Mrs. Jaeckle. The first result was the sidewalk extension on Osborne Rd. The Old Centralia sidewalk extension is still waiting on a right-of-way. The pedestrian crossings are almost complete. The bike lanes are stripped which also gives an added safety barrier to the sidewalks.. The bike lanes currently stripped almost didn’t happen due to VDOT. Arguably they could’ve been more. However the bike lanes are more that what we had before when I used to ride my bike on Rte. 10 through Chester. The recommendations referenced by the editor, Mark Fausz, were not in the 2011 CCA letter sent to CDOT. It was this letter that was acted upon by CDOT for the pedestrian and bike safety improvements not the letters Mr. Fausz referenced. So those recommendations, along with his opinion of the final outcome of this project are irrelevant as well as non factual. By the way, there are asphalt crosswalks at Chester and Harrowgate Roads now! I guess Mr. Fausz doesn’t see those as he drives over them several times a day every day! My biggest disappointment with Mr. Fausz is that he, as a member of the CCA Board of Directors, and one who attended, most, if not all CCA meetings in which the process of getting the pedestrian and bike safety improvements was fully discussed multiple times, that he would use his editorial space to criticize the outcome of this worthy project while completely ignoring the citizen-input process that got the project done. That just doesn’t make sense to me. Especially when I heard him say more than once in some of these past CCA meetings that having any bike lanes would be preferable to not having any bike lanes. I wonder if that renders his current published opinion on the bike lanes as inconsistent or just plain hypocritical?