His solution is to have access cuts in the peanut, sort of like street corners have now, which will allow for not only bicycles, but for baby strollers and wheelchairs.
He sent his suggestion to the county.
Joan Shen, head of the Traffic Engineering Division of Miami-Dade County Public Works and Waste Management has agreed that it is a good idea. She says the concept shown is a work in progress and that changes can easily accommodate the bicyclists and others using wheels. "Existing conditions do not reflect the final project design. Once at the roundabout, all legs will have crosswalks for pedestrians and cyclists," says Joan.
It's now in the hands of the City of Miami.
I don't get it. Why would bikes need to confront "oncoming traffic"? Bikes should be in the traffic flow and simply go around the peanut with the same rules as cars. There are crosswalks at every street for pedestrians and wheelchairs.
ReplyDeleteMom's with strollers, Pedestrians, wheelchair users and cyclists would be much safer crossing the peanut if there was a transition point like those at the crosswalks.
ReplyDeleteThe peanut circle is hard for any pedestrian, driver and bicyclist with a rational mind to navigate. I have not seen any weirder and awkwarder intersection anywhere.
ReplyDeleteYea I also don't see any validity to his complaint...
ReplyDeleteMaybe they could use the signs left over from the project 2 years ago between the sailing club and Peacock Park. They're lying in the dirt behind the bleachers. Hey, wanna make some money? Pull out of the sailing club onto the main street and get hit by a car. The stop sign was never replaced and you can sue the city!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy have we become so obsessed with traffic circles in a town with drivers who are empirically the worst in the country?
ReplyDeleteDay Avenue is supposed to be one way eastbound (ie: toward the circle). This reverses the way it used to be, one way toward Douglas. The lines painted on the road are correct but there's a need for signage. I've seen at least two cars come around the circle and turn right onto Day. Supposedly the curb will prevent that, but it doesn't seem to be sufficient.
ReplyDeleteRide your bike on the side walk and stop complainning so much!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDriving it almost daily, cars traveling toward Bayshore on 27th don't slow down at all. The way it is now if you make a left from Tigertail onto 27th heading to Bayshore (since the peanut isn't technically open for driving), you make your left and now get a stop sign - fine to see the other side of Tigertail but craning your head like Linda Blair in the Exorcist to see if anyone is racing down 27 - scary.
ReplyDeleteThe "PEANUT" will NEVER be cut...
ReplyDelete"Existing conditions do not reflect the final project design. Once at the roundabout, all legs will have crosswalks for pedestrians and cyclists,"
ReplyDeleteWell, it is evident that "the final project design", now open to crucial new suggestions or ideas, was not final in the first place, but anyway, it could still be fun to figure it out:
How about a virtual, computerized brain-storm to elucidate this particular peanut puzzle project.. involving all "vehicles" that will concur in this fascinating roundabout of sorts.. we're talking everything: cars, people, runners, bikes, strollers, pets, etc. : all moving objects. You can come up with some projected clustering algorithm of overall expected traffic, from every direction, at average volume peak-times, laying on top of the existing ground infrastructures?
Similar 5-legged, oval-shaped intersections have been figured out in many places worldwide a long, long time ago, and also very recently, with the latest technologies. So copy the concepts, extrapolate. It's cheaper, and faster. Just add the human touch: have cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers put it to Live, real preliminary tests right there one morning.
What's more difficult to figure out than these very good, traffic-calming improvements to the area.... would be to determine unequivocally whether peanuts are actually fruit, or mutant vegetables involved in oblique culinary processes that go against the grain, perhaps botanical legumes, or just mediocre nuts. Google it up.
Peanuts, smenuts, this looks like & sounds like the U.S. Congress. Why not a simple straight-forward green for go, red for stop and yellow for get ready? Baby strollers, wheelchairs, bicyclist, pedestrians, skateboarders, the blind, pot heads, drunks, crackheads, the living dead, the homeless and those wet foot, dry foot arriving from some 3/4th world country after being dropped off at Dinner Key could easily navigate. Jobie Steppe
ReplyDeleteAgree with the lack of signage: the main ones should read "Weird roundabout thing, you gotta slow the heck down and do have a nice day"
ReplyDeleteImagine leaving the Tigertail Lounge and trying to negotiate the Peanut!
ReplyDeleteThat's great Dexter, you're right and I remember leaving myself a couple times, smashed would have gotten smashed. And I would never drive my car to the Lounge cause I lived a few blocks away.
ReplyDelete