In general I find riding a bike a safe activity, I
find riding with my kids locally less dangerous then riding in a car. People
think safety and likely comment on my helmet or safety sash but they do not
really make a difference 99% of the time. I like most people whom ride bikes
know that infrastructure really makes bicycling safe, in countries like the
Netherlands or Denmark where bicycling infrastructure is separated cycle tracks
they have very low rates of crashes and much higher rates of bicycling then in the
US.
Most car crashes happen within five miles of your
home. For me the scariest part of my bike ride is my last half-mile home. I'd
like to blame it on the two hills I have to conquer (the video at the end even
with it sped up makes my hill climbing on pace with a brisk walk) but really it
is a very dangerous intersection, Main Street and Ridge.
This intersection to put it lightly is a
clusterfuck. A central hub of bikes, pedestrian (two trails meet here), SEPTA’s
Wissahickon bus transfer center and Regional Rail station, a tractor trailer
route AND an alternative car route for the often backed up I-76. With this
many users and not enough infrastructure to safely move everyone it is
dangerous for everyone.
And here I am using it daily because it is my way
into and out of the city. I am always nervous at this intersection whether I am
leaving or coming home.
But coming home is special kind of hell. You can
watch the video below (I sped up the video so it is about 8 minutes but this
ride took me 14minutes) but let me walk you through it. First I take a sharp
turn off the path to ride a narrow two-way sidewalk across the bridge. Next I cautiously
transverse a series of driveways where I watch the buses making a left over a
double line across two lanes of traffic. I then try to get around the tail of
the bus and dodge those exiting the bus. I then ride into an unoccupied
business alley. The "parking lot" is often where cars illegally stop
or make illegal turns. Next, I hop off and walk my bike up the block hoping to
not bully the whole sidewalk for other users. After that, I wait to cross the
road; often auto users pull an illegal right or run the red on my cross. In the
past week 2 out of 4 of my rides I had two cars run the red light. Luckily I
anticipate this. Finally I get over to the correct side of the road but the
cars go up hill to fast and often swear into the shoulder which the bus also
uses to load/unload passengers so I ride illegally up the sidewalk and past the
entrance to the train station which often has people coming and going and eventually
into my hood. That's a .5-mile that takes me on average twelve minutes on a
good day.
This area has been on the radar of bike advocates
for a while on the Coalition's
Bike Crash Map it has had over 15 reported
accidents. Making this one of the city's worst intersections for bike
riders. Although some beautiful
multi-user lanes where designed for this area it looks like what got approved
will at the least take me away from the bus area and narrow bridge sidewalk. It's a start and even then that
start seems to be stalled as I have heard of no construction etc.
So here I am everyday facing this
intersection and nervous. There is NO other way to get to and from my house and to center city without going through it.
City of Philadelphia I ask of you
to not delay. To not allow one more crash here (or anywhere in the city for that matter). Let's look at light timing.
Allowing pedestrians a longer and safer crossing time and forcing cars to slow down
coming off of the local highways. Repainting the intersections could also help. Next the brush on the left side needs to be cut
back so the sidewalk is useable! And how about those often hated
red light cameras. I plead with you to install them here! In the mean time can we post cops down here and make the city some money with tickets! Finally, when it snows the
bridge over the creek and sidewalks on Ridge need to be shoveled. There are no
businesses or homes to take care of them.
