At the intersection of Cortez Road and 75th Street West, whoever is in charge of the design for the north and south lane alignment gets a failing grade.
Instead of the bike lane being on the far right, it is sandwiched between the right-turn or straight lane and the straight lane. If a bike starts straight or tries to turn right, they are in danger of being hit by the car in the far right lane. The bike lane on the south side is on the far right.
How does this make any sense? The bike lane should be on the far right for safety, just like every other intersection.
The intersection is even worse for drivers going north on 75th Street West. The far right lane for bikes is correct. The next lane is the right-turn or straight lane that does not line up directly with the straight right lane on the other side of Cortez Road.
The next lane is the straight lane that does not line up with its lane on the other side of Cortez Road and is actually lined up almost halfway between the far right and left straight lanes on the other side of Cortez Rd.
Next to the far left straight lane is an entire lane that is painted to theoretically prevent any vehicles from using it, and to the left of that lane is a left-hand turn lane only. I have seen two drivers use the no-drive lane to cut off drivers.
All that needs to be done to remedy this situation is to move the lanes to the left, lining them up correctly, and narrowing the forbidden access lane. This isn’t rocket science, folks.
Ray Fusco
Bradenton
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David Daniels
THANK YOU, Mr Fusco, for commenting on this important but neglected topic. I (bike) ride these exact lanes every single day. I recently changed my south bound route from 75th St to Palma Sola Pkwy to avoid the NW corner of the intersection. Another design flaw are the new roundabouts on 75th St W for the SeaFlower development - thy don't have bike lanes at all. So there are bike lanes leading up to the roundabouts, then they suddenly end at the roundabout, then pick up again on the other side. That is pure stupidity, and very dangerous. In January of this year, while riding on nearby El Conquistador Pkwy, I was 30 seconds behind another cyclist who had been hit and killed by a commercial truck. I held his bleeding head as he took his last breaths. 4 days later, on January 25, I was hit on 75th St W at the entrance to the Elks Lodge. This past Tuesday, I had my 2nd shoulder surgery from the accident. Almost every week, there is another local bike or pedestrian death from being hit by car. Cyclist should be able to enjoy being outside doing what they enjoy in safety. For a brand new road roundabout to not have a bike lane is inexcusable.
Friday, September 25 Report this