Getting There: Tempe testing colored bicycle lanes

The main tool cities have used to demarcate bike lanes has been paint. There’s the white line for the lane, and sometimes a bike icon painted in the lane.

But as bicyclists complain that drivers aren’t paying attention, cities have gotten very bold with paint — slathering over the entire lane with green, blue or red.

The eye-catching lanes have popped up in Europe, but Tempe has become one of the first Valley communities to give brightly colored lanes a try.

Tempe has painted bike lanes at two intersections to see how it works. The color of choice: red.

The material isn’t paint, really, but an epoxy stone treatment.

You can see it at University Drive and Ash Avenue, and at Apache Boulevard and College Avenue.

Tempe spent $3,600 to test the material at two places where drivers too often veered into lanes reserved for bicyclists, said Amanda Nelson, a Tempe transit spokeswoman.

“This will further define who belongs where,” Nelson said.

The intersections are also on some of the city’s most traveled bicycle routes.

The stuff has been down more than a week and has already triggered compliments from bicyclists.

They like how the red defines the lane and would like to see it used more widely in Tempe, Nelson said.

Europeans have painted lanes for years, and some U.S. cities have experimented with the concept.

Gilbert is probably the only other Valley city with a colored bike lane — in front of an elementary school, Nelson said.

Tempe wants to see how well the material withstands traffic.

And whether the colored lane gets drivers’ attention and keeps them out of it.

Nelson said she doesn’t know how long that will take.

And if it does prove a good idea, it’s unclear whether Tempe would put it at just problematic intersections or use the material even more

widely.

“It really depends on what we learn from these two locations,” Nelson said.

PIMA, IRONWOOD SIGNAL ANYTHING BUT USELESS

A caller from Pinal County called a traffic signal at Pima and Ironwood roads in Pinal County “useless.”

Try telling that to drivers trying to turn from two-lane Pima Road onto the recently expanded four-lane Ironwood Road. Last year, the road was averaging 14,411 vehicles per day. That’s not astronomical, but it’s pretty heavy for a rural area.

For comparison, Chandler Heights Road at Val Vista Drive, in southeast Gilbert, averaged 11,580 vehicle per day last year.

And Pinal County’s average was calculated before the road went to four lanes.

“We do expect the ’08 number would demonstrate a significant increase in traffic,” Pinal County spokeswoman Heather Murphy said.

I drove out there around 4 p.m. Thursday and found the signal anything but useless. The speed limit on Ironwood Road, a major thoroughfare connecting the Queen Creek/Pinal County area with U.S. 60, is 45 mph.

But this being the Valley, drivers are usually going at least 55 mph. That can make it difficult, and downright dangerous, for cars to turn onto the road without the help of an occasional red light.

Meanwhile, over in Queen Creek, another reader wants to know what’s up with Queen Creek Road, between Sossaman and Power roads. The middle of the road has been torn up and blocked off for the last couple of months, states Queen Creek resident Jeff Watson in an e-mail.

A developer building along Queen Creek was improving the center lanes as part of its commercial project. But that developer has since hit financial problems and cannot finish the project. Developers working on public streets must post a bond that may eventually be used by the town to complete the work.

“But there’s a rather lengthy legal process we have to go through first,” Queen Creek’s traffic engineer Mike Pacelli said. Pacelli had no estimate on how long it will take before the road is completed.

CLOSURES & RESTRICTIONS

• Drivers will not be able to make a left turn in any direction Monday through Wednesday at the intersection of Queen Creek and Higley roads.

• Ocotillo Road from Val Vista Drive to Greenfield Road is closed until late March.

• Queen Creek Road will be closed from Arizona Avenue to McQueen Road while crews expand the road to six lanes. The road should open after Sept. 28.