Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

Genuinely, what would be best practices in this situation? Any situation with right-turning traffic crossing a bike lane is dangerous for cyclists.

The current situation is uncomfortable due to speed of traffic on both sides. The lane, however, is very visible due to the markings (although they have their own risk in rain), and cyclists are likely only to have drivers approach them and cross paths from behind which increases the visibility of the cyclist to the driver and lowers risk of the driver hitting the cyclist by keeping the cyclists in the zone the driver is paying closest attention to.

The usual response to traffic speed is to take steps to reduce it. Speed bumps are probably not a good measure as it shifts driver focus toward the speed bump and away from, say, other cyclists on the road. Narrowing drive lanes may be counterproductive as it would encourage vehicles to crowd the bike lane. Changing the ramp to a T-intersection forcing a right turn for exiting vehicles would slow traffic down, but it would also mean that cyclists are far more likely to end up in a vehicles blindspot prior to them turning and potentially lead to the cyclist being hit. A fully separated lane with barriers would mean that traffic would have to exit in a single spot and possibly lead to the same problem with blindspots.

I think ultimately a separated lane is appropriate here, due to traffic speeds. The exit lane should be removed - Northfield isn't an expressway and doesn't need one. Instead, the bike lane should curve out away from the drive lane as it approaches the exit and then cross a short slip at a more oblique angle on a raised crossing. This forces traffic to slow as they approach the turn, but also keeps cyclists and pedestrians in their view the entire time. Something like this (pardon the awful MSPaint).

I know others have suggested a MUT between the LRT tracks, which is probably the most feasible option when the LRT was being constructed. It's an MTO bridge and removing the slip ramps is non-negotiable with the province, mainly because they seem to be unaware that there can be roads that aren't expressways.