Itโs an intersection that many local cyclists, including this reporter, can call to mind easily, and not often fondly: East Skyline and Sunrise drives in the Catalina Foothills.
Sunrise carries two lanes of westbound traffic at a swift 45 mph, and despite the yield signs and two other signs warning motorists of upcoming bike traffic, some drivers enter the thoroughfare from Skyline on a dedicated free-flow lane nearly as fast. That lane takes them across the westbound Sunrise bike lane, which is painted blue where the two overlap as an added layer of safety.
However, the blue paint and warning signs that precede it werenโt enough to keep an elderly driver from merging onto Sunrise, striking and killing an out-of-state cyclist, in January. Along with the fatality, some cyclists say theyโve had brushes with tragedy at the same spot.
โAlmost every cyclist that Iโve talked to has had a close call at that intersection,โ said Howard Strause, of Tucsonโs Cactus Cycling Club, who added that he has had several himself.
In the wake of the accident, the county has undertaken a redesign of the intersection, some initial elements of which have drawn the praise of the Tucson cycling community. Others have been met with pointed criticism.
In two separate May letters, Strause, representing the roughly 200-member club, and the Tucson-Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee both wrote that proposed speed tables on the free-flow lane are a welcome development and could keep motorists in check as they merge with Sunrise. The committee is the countyโs and cityโs official advisory body on cycling matters.
On the other hand, both organizations panned the proposals to remove yield signs for motorists, redirect westbound cyclists on Sunrise across the free-flow lane, and keep those cyclists in check with their own yield sign at the new crossing. In the clubโs letter, Strause wrote that those measures โwill make this intersection even more dangerous to cyclists.โ
โWe think itโs ironic that a cyclist gets hit there because cars are not obeying the rules of the road and (the countyโs) response is to make cyclists responsible for this death by changing the rules of the road,โ Strause told the Star last week.
The county, it seems, has listened to its critics.
The county department of transportationโs goal is to reduce the speeds of merging traffic at the intersection of Sunrise and Skyline, Pima County Transportation Director Priscilla Cornelio wrote in an email Friday.
โWe are investigating the costs and impacts of implementing the concepts suggested by the two groups,โ she wrote, referring to the club and advisory committee.
On Friday, advisory committee chairman David Bachman-Williams told the Star he met with Cornelio and another county transportation official about a revised temporary fix and a permanent fix.
Unless county administrators intend to pursue the permanent fix immediately, Bachman-Williams said after the Friday meeting, the short-term solution will include the speed tables, leaving the free-flow lane yield signs in place and repainting the Sunrise bike lane where it crosses Skyline a striped green, measures that reflect the preferences of his board and the cycling club. Bachman-Williams said he was told the speed tables would cost around $1,400.
Proposals for the long-term solution include severely restricting the free-flow lane to further slow traffic, or getting rid of it altogether and directing Skyline traffic to a T intersection with Sunrise. Bachman-Williams said he was told those changes could cost several hundred thousand dollars, and emphasized that those proposals are just โthoughts on paper,โ though they are the โmost likely.โ
In her Friday email, Cornelio said she will discuss the proposals with county management and expects a decision next week.
Bachman-Williams said the county is also continuing its study of its seven or so other free-flow lanes, which he thinks โwork well to get on and off of freeways โ otherwise they are dangerous to vulnerable users, like cyclists and pedestrians.โ
โThe idea long term is to come up with a standard for how (the county does) free-flow turns, if they do them at all,โ he said.
In his roughly two decades on the advisory committee, Bachman-Williams said he had never worked so closely with high-level county staff on a roadway project.
โIโm really happy that the county is being so proactive and responsive and open-minded with dealing with the bicycling community,โ he said.
