closed #179318
Traffic Related Complaints
290 W 7th ST
- Case Date:
- 3/23/2022
Around 9:45am this morning, I walked out of the parking garage at 7th and Morton, out through the lower level of the garage onto 7th Street. As I was walking out onto the sidewalk, a minivan was driving east in the bike lanes! The driver and passenger seemed lost and realized they were in the wrong place. They stopped then crossed over a break in the weird curbing there to get back into a lane of traffic. They had driven from at least Morton halfway up the block before getting out of the bike lane. This is not the first time of numerous times I have witnessed vehicles driving in or parking in the 7th Street bike lane. Is there any way to add signs or markings that make this more obvious? Also, while we are here - on Monday I was downtown driving on Morton headed north and came to a stop at 7th Street. People are really confused by this intersection. A car from the west came to a complete stop. A car from the north on Morton decided to cross 7th in front of the stopped car from the west on Morton. A car coming down the hill from the east on 7th was not intending to stop, but had to due to this car in the intersection from the north on Morton that failed to yield to 7th Street traffic. Although, the randomly stopped car to the west on 7th acting like it was a four-way stop sign certainly made matters go awry. Essentially, the entire 7th Street bike lane system is a mess of poorly designed infrastructure. A friend was telling me about how the bike lane gets blocked at 7th and Woodlawn because of the college students getting on and off buses and the bus riders have to cross the bike lanes and often do not pay any attention. A perfectly good street has multiplied the potential for accidents and injuries with this "upgrade" that got installed.