One
of central Arkansas's greatest assets is the Arkansas River
Trail system that has been under development since early 2000.
Looping around the riverfronts of both Little Rock and North
Little Rock, the trail offers a little less than 15 miles of
recreational riding, and provides an important route for bicycle
commuters to and from the downtown areas. Thousands of
cyclists, walkers, runners, and others use this facility on a
daily basis.
However, in downtown Little Rock, the trail has a major
disconnect between the end of the formal trail system in Murray
Park at the intersection or Rebsamen Road and Riverfront Drive,
and the downtown business district, including the very popular
destination of the River Market district. Here, the City
of Little Rock has simply named a set of city streets to reach
the downtown area, including long stretches of major arterial
streets. While experienced, vehicular cyclists may not find this
to be much of a problem, it's not uncommon to encounter lost
visiting cyclists in this area, looking for the trail route, and
traffic volume often creates a significant deterrent for new and
recreational riders. In fact, the City's marking of the
River Trail in this area is so cryptic, confusing, and sometimes
scary, that a special street marking has been applied along much
of the route to help interpret the City's signage and
intentions:
Unofficial trail marking for the River Trail route
through downtown Little Rock
"Closing the Loop" in the River Trail system is BACA's priority
project, in order to provide a route that cyclists of all skill
and experience levels can safely and confidently use for
transportation, commuting, and recreation.
The problems with the River Trail crossing
Cantrell Road, and LaHarpe Boulevard in front of the Stephens
Episcopal School and Dillard's are much more more than just an issue
for “recreational” cyclists, because our trail and streets are
used for much, much more than just recreation. A significant
number of people depend on bicycles as their main transportation
to get to work, or otherwise get around town. Ever look behind
the various restaurants and hotels around the River Market area
and see all the bikes parked there? They belong to the employees
who work in those businesses. The River Trail and
adjoining/connected streets are an important means for them to
get to work, or wherever else they have to go.
A second issue is that the current gap at Dillard's and the
Episcopal School effectively severs
the River Trail, and blows a big honking hole into what has
become a major attraction for the city and county. All the
millions of dollars spent on the Big Dam Bridge? Think about it…
with the poor connectivity east and west of Cantrell/LaHarpe,
what are you going to do when you see this sign down there…
... turn around and go home?
The third and final issue is compliance with the state and city traffic
codes. Arkansas law (A.C.A. Sec. 27-49-111) states that “Every
person riding a bicycle or an animal, or driving
any animal drawing a vehicle upon a highway,
shall have all the rights and all of the
duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, except those
provisions of this act which by their nature can have no
applicability. ” As a cyclist, when you ride on
the public roads and streets, you're subject to the same traffic
laws as the operator of any other vehicle. John Forester (Effective
Cycling, 1976) has distilled this down to what is
referred to as the "vehicular cycling principle," "Cyclists
fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles.”
Little Rock has a number of city ordinances which are more
stringent for cyclists. First of all, Little Rock City Ordinance
32-487 reinforces the state law directing compliance with
traffic signals and signs, to include things like stop signs,
one-way streets and lanes, and “Do Not Enter” signs:
Quote:
Sec. 32-487. Obedience
to traffic-control devices.
Any person operating a bicycle shall obey the
instructions of official traffic-control signals, signs,
and other control devices applicable to vehicles, unless
otherwise directed by a police officer. Whenever
authorized signs are erected indicating that no right or
left or U-turn is permitted, no person operating a
bicycle shall disobey the direction of any such sign,
except where such person dismounts from the bicycle to
make any such turn, in which event such person shall
then obey the regulations applicable to pedestrians.
City Ordinance 32-489 establishes a
mandatory bike lane rule… e.g., if there’s a marked bike lane,
cyclists are required to use that lane instead of the rest of
the street. So, you have to follow the bike path, wherever it
leads, in order to be "street legal":
Quote:
Sec.
32-489. Riding on roadways and bicycle paths.
Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway shall
ride as near as to the right-hand side of the roadway as
practicable, exercising due care when passing a standing
vehicle or one proceeding in the same direction. Persons
riding bicycles upon a roadway shall not ride more than
two (2) abreast except on paths or parts of roadways set
aside for the exclusive use of bicycles.
Whenever a
usable path for bicycles has been provided adjacent to a
roadway bicycle riders shall use such path and shall not
use the roadway.
(This MBL ordinance, by the way,
along with the current problem with the Trail crossing Cantrell,
is a factor works strongly against Little Rock’s
efforts to be designated as a Bicycle-Friendly Community.)
And
while State law is silent upon the
issue of riding on sidewalks (meaning that where not
specifically prohibited by a city ordinance, you can ride your
bike or even drive your car on the sidewalks in Arkansas),
Ordinance 32-494 specifically prohibits riding bikes on the
sidewalk in the business district and downtown area, with the
exception of the City Police Dept.’s bike patrols):
Quote:
Sec. 32-494. Riding on
sidewalks.
(a) No person
shall ride a bicycle upon a sidewalk within a business
district. Whenever any person is riding a bicycle
upon a sidewalk outside of business districts, such
person shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian
and shall give audible signal before overtaking and
passing such pedestrian.
Here's a look at the
"Trail" in real time, going westbound from Cross Street
(From downtown) to the intersection at Gill Street.
BACA's Candid Camera followed several members of the
Arkansas Bicycle Club as they returned from the Sunday
afternoon group ride...
Some high points along the way:
The way the City’s Traffic folks
have arranged the junction of the River Trail and its crossing
of Cantrell Road at the Episcopal School places cyclists in
direct violation of each of these laws, and throws in a
few extra foolish practices to further endanger the riders.
Let’s take a look, from the cyclist’s point of view, at the
specific hazards you face when following the River Trail west
from the downtown area and negotiating the Cantrell/LaHarpe
intersection.
Here’s the approach, going north on Cross Street,
to the intersection with LaHarpe, at the top of the hill east of
Dillard's. A cyclist here will need to cross two lanes of
oncoming traffic in order to enter onto the sidewalk so as to
properly follow the bike path they’ve laid out. This leads to
what is very much a blind corner, and riders crossing the
oncoming lanes in order to get up on the sidewalk here are
subject to a sharp surprise and a head-on collision with motor
vehicles turning right from LaHarpe onto Cross Street. In this
case, the cyclist is made to ride the wrong way directly into
oncoming traffic, placing him or her at fault in the case of a
car-bike collision.
Note that the pavement here is none too good either, (inviting a
fall hazard) but that’s another issue for another day.
Here’s a close-up of the actual turn you have to
negotiate once you get on the sidewalk, with the traffic sign
indicating the bike path follows the sidewalk. Once here, you’re
now violating two traffic rules: 1) you’re riding on the
sidewalk, and 2) you’re going the wrong way against oncoming
traffic.
Be careful here, because deviation
to the left or right in leaving or entering the sidewalk here
will put you into an 8-inch drop into the storm drain at the
lower left, another good way to ruin your ride.
This
is a view of the bridge/overpass crossing the Union Pacific rail
line, with a bike shown for size comparison to show how narrow
the space is. There’s room only for one-way traffic,
whether a bike or a pedestrian, since the sidewalk is only a
little wider than your handlebars. (The width of the
sidewalk is 47 inches, but narrows to 40 inches where the guard
rail for the bridge infringes on the sidewalk). The adjacent
(and oncoming) traffic lane is narrow, too, so you’re going to
be pretty (and uncomfortably) close to the cars coming the other
way, and there’s little room for error… and an 8-inch drop from
the sidewalk to the street, if for any reason you might have to
leave the sidewalk.
The trail takes a downhill slope,
with the additional hazard of a large longitudinal crack
down the center, capable of catching a bicycle tire and
causing a diverting fall. This path is often
strewn with loose gravel. Above image from the top of
the slope, image below is from the bottom.
Once you cross the bridge, the
trail makes a sharp left turn down an old path to
connect with North Street.
Immediately after crossing the bridge, you make a
sharp, 90-degree left turn down a roughly paved, steeply
inclined path (often gravel-strewn). At the bottom of this hill,
you need to thread the needle between these signs, placed to
mark the end/beginning of North Street, in front of the
Episcopal School. (This is the little stretch that they want to
close to build the new elementary school in this space.) Again,
a road bike is shown to show the comparative narrowness of this
hazard. Making it more interesting, this chokepoint is usually
strewn with loose gravel, both from the adjacent railroad bed
and the debris that piles up at the end of this otherwise
dead-end street. The gravel makes it easy to lose traction and
skid, or if you hit a big enough rock, you can flat a tire or
suffer a diverting fall should you lose control of your front
wheel.
In
a recent update, the steel signposts have been removed after a
number of cyclists failed to negotiate the gaps between them...
it's uncertain whether this was a City effort or some guerilla
trail modification, as the removed signs are piled deep in the
bushes on the right side of this picture.
This is a July 2011 image:
Exiting North Street and coming back onto
Cantrell/LaHarpe, the bike path signs direct you back onto the
sidewalk running in front of the Episcopal School campus. The
only curb cut made so that you can get onto the sidewalk here
without bunny-hopping over the curb and grass is just at the
edge of the street, where the red arrow is pointing. Note again
the green bike path sign, “USE SIDEWALK.”
This view looks down the sidewalk/”bike path,”
showing how narrow it is (47 inches wide, edge-to-edge)… again,
this is suitable for one-way traffic only, and unsafe for
simultaneous bike/pedestrian use. Fortunately, a good deal of
the east-bound cyclists use their judgment as to the “usability”
of the bike path, and ride the right-hand lane of Cantrell on up
the hill past Dillards and the overpass, and simply turn right
off LaHarpe onto Cross Street to pick back up on the bike route.
The
speed limit on this stretch of road is 40 mph. While this
is technically a school zone because of the presence of the
entrance to the Episcopal School, the school takes advantage of
a loophole in Arkansas's school zone law; the presence of the
perimeter fence negates the requirement for a 25 mph speed limit
here. Why is the speed limit an issue? Because, if a
cyclist or pedestrian is hit by a car going 40 mph, then he or
she has less than a 15% chance of surviving that collision.
Simply lowering the speed limit to 25 mph improves the chance of
survival to 75% or better.
(The CATA bus in this image is stopped at a marked bus stop.
Note the absence of a curb-out, crosswalk, or any other facility
for pedestrians exiting the bus.)
The City of Little Rock and
Central Arkansas Metroplan are seeking to apply for a $15
million federal grant under the TIGER program to construct a
recreational trail which will run along the Arkansas River bank
behind Dillards to serve as a sort of "wormhole" passage between
North Gill Street and the western end of the Medical Mile.
A previous application was turned down in October 2011.
With several national experts on livable communities and
complete streets having examined this corridor, their
conclusions have been that Cantrell Road doesn't really need a
$15 million by-pass... what it needs is a road diet,
lowered speed limit, traffic calming, and traffic enforcement to
reduce and mitigate these hazards.
While you’re riding westbound here, you’re once
again in violation of traffic and
safety rules, by 1) riding on the sidewalk, and 2) riding
the wrong way against the flow of traffic.
A little more than halfway down the sidewalk, you
have to negotiate the driveway leading into the Episcopal School
campus, which is designed only for vehicle or pedestrian
traffic, not bicycles. Again the only curb cut involves a very
sharp, very short right turn into the exit lane (Arrow #1), then
you have to get past the decorative island in the center (Arrow
#2). The only way to do this is to go around the island to the
right in the oncoming traffic lane, or do a U-Turn back toward
the gatehouse to go find the single curb cut letting you back on
the sidewalk on the opposite side of the drive. Both options
take the rider the wrong way into potentially oncoming traffic –
violation of both traffic law, and safe practices.
Some riders will attempt to avoid this by riding along the left
edge of the street to reach the alley next to the bridge
overpass, but they are violating the law by riding against the
flow of traffic, and risking a head-on collision with a car.
The speed limit here is 45 mph for motor vehicles, by the way.
Positive proof of the dangers here was a recent crash between a
cyclist attempting to ride through the crosswalk here, and a
motorist exiting the school grounds but not paying attention to
either the sidewalk, crosswalk, or anyone therein...
One
should always be careful in this area, especially during the
drop-off and pick-up hours at the School. Time and time
again proves that the most dangerous areas of any school ground
are the parking lots and nearby driveways; and the primary
hazards are created by parents or guardians attempting to drop
off, or pick up their children! This was no
"invisible cyclist" ... note the bright-colored jersey and
helmet.
The curb cut on the west side of the Epsicopal
Scholl driveway is easily missed...
so unless you can bunny-hop the curb and grass strip, this could
put you to riding down the left side of the traffic lane, also
the wrong way against traffic, in order to get to the next
obstacle.
At the end of the Episcopal School
property, the sidewalk abruptly ends, and puts the rider onto
the shoulder of Cantrell Road, again on the wrong side riding
into oncoming traffic (Arrow #1). To continue on the path,
riders are directed down an alley way to the left of the
Cantrell overpass and under the bridge, eventually emerging onto
the road running in front of the warehouses on the north side of
Cantrell near Junior Deputy Park. Please note that you’re being
directed to ignore the “Do Not Enter” sign on this alley way,
riding the wrong way on a one-way street (Arrow #2); and that
there’s a good chance of running into oncoming traffic exiting
the alley (Arrow #3) with no place to go…
Approaching the
Episcopal School entrance from the west (heading toward
downtown) is no less daunting, as the above two images
illustrate the obstacles you must run in order to follow
the designated trail/sidewalk. This is often
complicated by turning traffic coming from behind you to
enter the school campus.
Most savvy riders
these days will stop here at the exit from the Gill
Street alleyway, yield to traffic on Cantrell, and ride
the right-hand traffic lane here on Cantrell up over the
hill in the distance, and turn right on Cross, Chester,
or State street to return to Markham and pick up the
marked River Trail route from there.
Hazards in the River Market district:
Once you arrive downtown on the eastbound route, a common
mistake that new riders and visitors make is not turning left on
Arch Street to enter onto the "Medical Mile" trail. If,
instead you proceed past Broadway and continue east on President
Clinton Avenue, you quickly find yourself boxed in by the
trolley tracks of the River Rail. President Clinton
Avenue is a narrow, two-lane street with on-street parking on
both sides, and the eastbound traffic lane has trolley tracks
laid down the center, as shown here:
There is simply no place for a cyclist to ride safely east on
Clinton Avenue east of the intersection with Broadway without
getting caught up in the trolley tracks or riding dangerously in
the Door Zone. Savvy cyclists headed east to the River
Market District will either ride the Medical Mile (accessible
behind City Hall, at the intersection of Pres. Clinton and Arch
Street), or will detour two blocks to the south to 3rd Street,
ride east to the I-30 overpass, then swing around to the left to
access the River Market from the east.
Most of the most frequent complaints about local cyclists is
that we ignore traffic law way too often… but then one of the
most frequently-used bike paths has the City directing cyclists
to violate some of the most basic safety principles… You should
always ride on the right side of the road, never on the left
against traffic. Wrong-way riding is probably the most-frequent
cause of car-bike collisions and dead or maimed cyclists –
accounting for 14% of all car-bike collisions, and you should
never ride on the sidewalks. Cyclists ride on the road or
street, where they’re mostly safe from pedestrians (who account
for a little more than 1% of all bike accidents).
It may sound like a small thing in order to have connection
between the two ends of the Trail amid two non-cooperative
landowners, but what we’re doing here with the current
work-around is reinforcing exactly the type of behavior that we
need to be working against.
So.. remember… y’all be careful out there. It would be nice to
have a few more signs around like this one:
Copyright
Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas 2003-2011 -
info@bacar.org
Site design by Crystal Hunnicutt / Artwork
courtesy of Jason Jones
