Day 4 - Tour of Rijswijk and Den Haag and Discussion on Designing Multimodal Intersections - Day 4

Tour of Rijswijk and Den Haag

On the fourth day we had a tour of the suburb between Delft and The Hague, which is Rijswijk. Paul Wiggenraad, our host from TU Delft, is a resident of 25 years, so he has seen much change in traffic safety that he could share with the students. We had several stops along the way including the Den Haag train station. The Hague has two main stations, HS and Central (former SS), originating from two railway companies Hollandse Spoor (spoor is Dutch for railway) and Staatspoor (private company operating the lines built by the state). In 1938, these two merged in the Dutch National Railway systems. HS is a station on the Old Line (Amsterdam-Haarlem-Leiden-Den Haag-Delft-Rotterdeam) and SS is the terminal of the Utrecht-The Hague Line. 

The new entrance to the Den Haag HS station is modern. 

During the rebuild of the station, they added some fantastic
 bicycle tunnels underneath the old tracks. Pedestrians have similar access.

The station building dates from 1893 and is built in the classic Dutch style.
Obviously, much different than the backside of the building. Trams cross in front of
the station here and create a busy street that is a bit daunting to the first time visitor.

Along the Tour we stopped at a bicycle box that was used along the canal.
The vehicular travel lane is 7 feet wide, the bike lane is 4 feet and the opposing travel lane is 7 feet.
On-street parking is 6 feet and it was evident by all of the vehicles tight against the curb
and with their wheels (the larger ones at least) on the stripe to indicate parking.

We ended up on several bicycle highways, this particular overcrossing gave us
 a nice view of the cycletrack on the right hand side of the street, complete with the
separated right turn lane (note the stop bar set back 50 meters or more. The intent of
the setback is to limit the ability to make right turn on red and to improve visibility.
This sort of treatment has to reduce vehicluar capacity considerably.
It is worth nothing that the off-ramp to on-ramp movement (through at the signal crossing, in
other words what would be moving from from left to right in this view) is not allowed.
That movement could physically happen, but it isn't specifically allowed.  

Critique of Current Manuals

Upon returning to Delft, we had to resolve an issue with a flat tire and then we had a lecture on what we've seen and how that might be incorporated into our cities. Peter provided a summary of some of these elements as well as some of the limitations of the following documents.
AASHTO Bike Guide
NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide
He then proceeded to show the video: Junction Design the Dutch Way, after which  he advocated for designs of this nature with the students. The compromise for pedestrians is of interest and should be carefully considered. This is a subject worthy of more debate.

Separation of Through Cyclists from Right turning Traffic 

Peter Furth indicated that the Dutch manuals suggest separation of the right turning traffic and the cyclist movement when the right turn is greater than 150 vehicles.

Travelling on Amtrak with a Folding Bike - My Bike Friday Tickit to Ride

I am heading to the Walk 21 Conference in Vancouver BC to give a presentation on the work we're doing in Portland to encourage pedestrians. I wasn't sure I wanted to take my bike because I was worried about the hassle of having the bike and dealing with it on the train. In fact, I woke my wife up while waffling on whether I wanted to bike to the train station. It turns out it is very easy to stick it in the luggage rack three seats from where I am.

Yet, the woman that checked me in this morning threatened that I might have a problem when I transfer from train to bus in Seattle. I asked her what was I supposed to do in the case they didn't have space for it on the train and she calmly said, it would have to be on the next available train to BC. That next train arrives at 10:50 PM! How would that work? Clearly, this is one of the barriers to cycling. People (front counter people, myself included) expect it will be difficult to accomodate extra luggage on board. In some cases, it is simply an issue because you're dealing with folks that aren't always inclined to help, because they can't appreciate the challenge. I imagine people with disabilities have a similar challenge (although I say that appreciating that travelling with a bicycle is a choice).

Regardless of your situation, it takes a sort of confidence to persevere and with any luck on this trip, it will be worth the extra cost (if any).

UPDATE at 1:05 PM... During the transfer in Seattle to a bus, the driver of the bus indicated that I need to have a bag for the bike or else he can't take it. I had to tell him I didn't have a bag, the website did not indicate that it was necessary, and the gate agent in Portland (the second one that I talked to) told me it would be fine under the bus. Here's the specific language from the Amtrak website:
Folding bicycles may be brought aboard certain passenger cars as carry-on baggage. Only true folding bicycles (bicycles specifically designed to fold up into a compact assembly) are acceptable. Generally, these bikes have frame latches allowing the frame to be collapsed, and small wheels. Regular bikes of any size, with or without wheels, are not considered folding bikes, and may not be stored as folding bikes aboard trains.

You must fold up your folding bicycle before boarding the train. You may store the bike only in luggage storage areas at the end of the car (or, in Superliners, on the lower level). You may not store bikes in overhead racks.

The driver made me sign a waiver. I wrote on the back of the ticket stub that he took: "Liability Waiver" and signed by name. When I handed that to him, he gave it back to me and asked me to put a date on it. Apparently, this makes it official that if anything happens to the bike he is absolved of all wrong doing. Not that it should be a problem.

In other news, traffic on Interstate 5 in downtown Seattle is pretty bad at 1:12 PM when a football game is at the Seahawks stadium. Too bad I am not on the train.