Bicycling in Bloomington

Before reading this post, you should read the earlier post on riding on Bloomington streets. In Part 1, I describe street surfaces and conditions. In the addendum to Part 1, I further describe the conditions that lead to the sometimes dangerous streets in Bloomington. In this post, I describe traffic control and traffic patterns.

Traffic Control: The stop signs and traffic lights in Bloomington are not predictable. Caution is needed before crossing any street. At most intersections without traffic lights, one to four corners have stop signs and the number of stop signs is not predictable. After some time in Bloomington, bicyclists and drivers know which streets are signed on each corner so they can anticipate problems.

For the most part, drivers stop but sometimes they miss the signs; often because the signs are hidden by shrubbery. Bicyclists need to be cautious before proceeding through any intersection with stop signs.

Traffic lights are generally triggered by wires below the street surface or by video cameras. However, the main north and south streets - College and Walnut - are completely timed. Some lights are timed during certain hours and triggered at other times.

Bicycles and bicyclists can trigger very few traffic lights. The wires are generally not sensitive enough to have bicycles trigger them. The video cameras don’t see bicyclists.

About a year ago, I complained to the Bloomington Public Works department that a repaving covered a wire that sometimes could trigger a traffic light. I also mentioned a number of places that I am unable to trigger lights. The response was - we can’t do anything about it. Bloomington city government likes to say they are bicycle friendly but their actions are very different.

So, when approaching a traffic light in Bloomington, bicyclist should assume that they won’t be able to get a green light without help from a vehicle to trigger the light. Since there is always a lot of traffic on Bloomington streets, a vehicle usually arrives quickly. If not, and if it’s more than a minute, assume that you won’t get a green light and proceed when safe.

It’s a stupid system but it’s consistent with traffic management in Bloomington.

Traffic Patterns - Again, Bloomington has strange patterns that can create dangerous situations for bicyclists. Very often, streets will, without warning, change into turn lanes. Roadside signs are lightly used, very small, and hidden. Most indicators of lane changes are arrows on the street. Very often, drivers unexpectedly find themselves in lanes that will change direction but the driver didn’t want to change. In these cases, drivers make hasty decisions and bicyclists can be endangered.

A good example is a street that I travel each day on my commute. Travelling south on College Mall Rd, where cars routinely travel 50 mph, about 30 yards before street ends, there’s a hard right turn. It is not until after the turn that drivers can see the traffic light. And, almost without warning, the right line becomes right turn only. Drivers expecting to stay on the street continuing south must quickly change lanes at high speed. There is a small grey sign, well-camouflaged by a grey building, that warns of the lane change. The lane changing at the intersection often looks like a NASCAR race. Instead of a little sign, an urban interstate overhead sign is needed. This stupid traffic design is consistent with other traffic management decisions made by the city.

As a regular cyclist, I know what to expect at that intersection and most others in Bloomington. Cyclists new to town could find themselves in a dangerous situation because of the traffic patterns.