By Rag Staff
A disabled car blocked the northbound lane of Pershing Drive for 90 minutes this morning, Thursday, Oct. 16, forcing rush-hour traffic in both directions to use the same lane.
After the car stalled at 7:00 a.m., the driver and her son, Alex, called police dispatch.
“We told them the car was in a dangerous area,” said Alex, who didn’t want to give his last name. “We told them there’s no shoulder on the road for the car to pull over.”
This is the exact scenario the North Park community warned about when plans for the Pershing Bikeway were announced in 2016.
The $27.5 million project reduced the number of vehicle lanes on the heavily trafficked 2.3-mile drive from two in each direction to only one. Removing the car lanes made room for two separate bikeways in both sides of the road.
The North Park community warned that two narrow car lanes with no shoulders would endanger drivers if either lane were blocked. The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), which funded and built the bikeway project, insisted that any stalled vehicle would be moved immediately. This morning, the disabled car was finally hauled away by a tow truck at 8:30 a.m.
For 90 minutes, cars stuck behind the stopped vehicle had to dart into the opposite lane of traffic to move forward. There were lots of blaring horns and several near head-on collisions until four San Diego Police motorcycle officers arrived on the scene at 8:15 a.m. to direct traffic.
Throughout the car traffic snarl, bicycle traffic on the two bike lanes was sparse.
In anticipation of any anti bike lane rhetoric that’s sure to get posted:
https://momentummag.com/your-comeback-guide-to-all-the-anti-cycling-arguments-youll-hear-this-year/
The entire point of this post is summarized here:
“This is the exact scenario the North Park community warned about when plans for the Pershing Bikeway were announced in 2016.
The $27.5 million project reduced the number of vehicle lanes on the heavily trafficked 2.3-mile drive from two in each direction to only one. Removing the car lanes made room for two separate bikeways in both sides of the road.
The North Park community warned that two narrow car lanes with no shoulders would endanger drivers if either lane were blocked. The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), which funded and built the bikeway project, insisted that any stalled vehicle would be moved immediately.”
HELLO!!! It was not moved immediately — it took an hour and a half.
I’m aware of that and I acknowledge this is an unfortunate outcome, but a situation like this will bring out all the anti bike lane zealots who don’t want any bike lanes anywhere for any reason. Hopefully this situation can be rectified without removing the protected lanes that are now in place.
And, anyone who has an opinion that differs from the cyclists is an “anti bike lane zealot” for insisting common sense come into play about bike lanes.
I didn’t say that Geoff. Nowhere did I imply everyone who disagree with everything cyclists want is a zealot. Cyclists themselves don’t all agree with each other on how bike infrastructure should be laid out. The fact is though, many are.
Oh it was not particularly heavily-trafficked before the bike lanes were put in. I used to drive up and down Pershing all the time on my daily commute and didn’t typically see very many cars. Also, the speed limit used to be 50 MPH and cars often went even faster! Cycling there before was incredibly dangerous. The bike lanes now are incredibly well-designed and really make cycling there pleasant and safe.
I think the trade-off has been overall a positive one, and I say this as someone who has both driven and cycled Pershing many many times.
Too bad common sense did not prevail. To bike to downtown SD, the cyclists could have gone to Park Blvd., and avoided cycling up the steep Florida Cyn. on Pershing. The bike lanes in many locations on main thorough-fare streets, set several communities up for disaster should a piro start a fire. Emergency vehicles would not be able to move to help the victims if they were stuck halfway up/down Pershing, or mid block on 30th. St., and others. It’s very inconsiderate for the thousands of residents the Mayor, Council, Transportation Dept., and Planning to put them in danger, when there are alternative bike routes NOT on main streets. It also creates an automatic lawsuit for the victims to sue the City of SD and collect from the tax payers then the City raises fees to get money back in the budget. Gross mismanagement of the City mayor, council and various City Department heads who were appointed by the mayor, lack of common sense of those making the decisions.