No Bikes on VMP

I don't know if there was something specific recently that stirred things up, but twice so far this week the issue of the "No bikes/pedestrians" sign on the west side of Veterans Memorial Parkway (VMP) in Boise has come up.

I took this photo several years ago when I was involved in a discussion on the League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructor email list. The sign was put up long before that, probably when the VMP bridge was originally built. For those who are not familiar with the area, VMP is one of the few ways to get across the Boise river. The next closest place to cross the river is a couple miles away.

I asked the Ada County Highway District (ACHD) about it several years ago, and I was told that with the way the road curves and with the concrete barriers on the side of the road cutting down visibility when the road goes over the bridge, they felt that it wasn't safe for bicyclists to be on the west side of VMP. The issue came up recently at an ACHD Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting. They are still using the same justification for keeping the sign now.

The only alternative (other than having to ride miles out of the way) is to ride on the sidewalk on the east side of VMP. This not only puts bicyclists into conflict with pedestrians, but creates a dangerous situation with motorists when we have to cross over to the east side to get to the sidewalk, when we cross the two entrances to the park and the apartment building, and when we cross again once we get across the bridge where it is now "legal" to be on the west side of the road again.

For whatever it's worth, I crossed that bridge daily for 6 years during my commute to/from work. I rarely if ever rode on the sidewalk. Instead I almost always drove my bicycle like a vehicle in the regular travel lane, in spite of that "no bikes" sign. Not once in 6 years did I have any problems with motorists not being able to see me, even when I was on my recumbent. ACHD has been getting better at recognizing that bicycles are vehicles, but they still have some old dinosaurs that they need to deal with. That 'No Bikes' sign needs to be removed.