City of Davis Protected Intersection Study Tour

I recently joined a field trip set up by Safe Mountain View to Davis, California to check out that city’s awesome bike network and specifically its new protected intersection.The City of Davis has long been a leading force in bike-friendliness, ranked Platinum by League of American Bicyclists and boasting approximately 21% bike mode share by people over 16 commuting to work. What makes Davis so special?The first thing I noticed as we rolled off Amtrak with our bikes (yes, you can roll your bike on and off Amtrak’s Capitol Corridor trains) was the sheer number of bike racks and parked bikes in the downtown area. You can find bike racks at almost every corner. The City prefers the "Varsity bike docks" type because they are able to hold more bikes in less space. With bike share coming soon to Davis, it will have to make more roadway space available for bike racks, particularly in downtown.We were led by two City of Davis staff members: Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Jennifer Donofrio and Brian Abbanat, Transportation Planner, as well as Adrian Engel, an engineer consultant from Echelon Transportation Group. We were first taken on a portion of the Davis Bike Loop, a 12-mile route that makes a pleasant and easy route around the perimeter of town. The route is mostly on Class I, off-street multi-use paths, connecting downtown to residential areas and UC Davis. It is great to have a quiet, well used, and all-ages appropriate way to get around town and avoid higher traffic streets.On this route, we also saw many of the bike tunnels and bridges that connect the path to other parts of the bike network and neighborhood areas.It’s very convenient to have that access and connectivity for all residents. We also biked through beautiful Covell Park, one of many greenbelts in City of Davis that also include Class I multi-use paths. Our hosts mentioned that when the surrounding housing was built in the 1970s, it was required that the streets connect to the greenbelt, ensuring access from the neighborhoods to recreational and transportation opportunities.Other highlights included the two-way protected cycletrack and a bike signal head/phase to help bicyclists safely cross an intersection.The main event was riding the protected intersection connecting the Covell Blvd. bike/ped overpass and other bike routes to a new development, The Cannery. This is the first “protected intersection” in California, and one of only six in the United States. Alta Design and Planning has put together guidelines based on the existing U.S. designs.The protected intersection design is meant to prevent the dreaded “right hook” and other potential conflicts between people driving and people biking. Here is the Dutch video that started the trend and a website devoted to promoting the protected intersection design.From Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from The Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany by John Pucher and Ralph Buehler, a protected intersection typically includes:

• Special bike lanes leading up to the intersection, with advance stop lines for cyclists, far ahead of waiting cars;
• Insertion of traffic islands and bollards in roadway to sharpen turning radius of cars and thus force them to slow down when turning right; and
• Realigning bike pathways a bit further away from their parallel streets when they approach intersections to help avoid collisions with right-turning cars.

The intersection in Davis was funded by the new development at The Cannery to facilitate bike access to and from the property. Because the parcel sits on a busy street, adjacent to a popular bike/ped overcrossing, it was necessary to think outside of the box to bring people biking safely from the south side of Covell where the two-way overcrossing is to the north side where the property is. Right now, the intersection does not have a separate bicycle signal phase, though that could be added once the development is complete and traffic has increased. Right now, people biking must press the pedestrian button in order to get a signal or wait for the green light cycle.We can’t wait to hear more from Davis once they have gathered data on usage and feedback on whether people like using the new facility. Thanks to Davis staff and Safe Mountain View for a great study trip!Where would you like to see protected bike lanes in our area? What intersections would benefit from a protected design?