Saturday, August 15, 2009

Does the Renegade Bike Lane Striper Work for DPT?



Remember the unauthorized spate of common-sense (and whimsical), bike-safety messages stenciled on Fell at the ARCO Station ("KEEP CLEAR") and on Oak past Divis ("BIKES ONLY")? They remained a few days before MTA/DPT painted them over. Bikers buzzed: "Who are the renegade stripers? Where will they stripe next?"

Might they work for DPT itself? Consider the new striping on Grove, westbound between Divis and Scott. A little whimsy with that askew "A"? And what's with the big "K" pushing "E" up against the stripe? Not very nice. And do approach the top of the hill with an especially elongated STOP for safety.

Not to poke fun at re-paving and re-striping. That block of Grove was a rugged stretch to bike and the former stripes were mostly faded beyond recognition. And this is the only stretch of Grove to be even partly repaved anytime soon. Check these posts: pavement condition and repaving schedule for Grove and other NOPA streets.

The Grove westbound route just became a much more viable alternative to the Oak Street juggernaut for Easties. Hook up on Grove through NOPA, continue up to Alamo Square Park, and then cruise down Scott onto the Wiggle.

P.S. DPT must have its reasons for using tape instead of stencilled paint for pavement signage; cost savings, no doubt. But it does look just a tad, mmm, unprofessional.


4 comments:

  1. Whats a dpt?

    Sincerely:
    -poorloggerblogger-

    ReplyDelete
  2. DPT = sorry for not explaining; this refers to San Francisco's Department of Parking and Traffic. DPT was once an independent department of city government; now it is part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (MTA). MTA is responsible for mass transit (MUNI bus lines and street cars, cable cars) as well as pedestrian and bicyclist issues.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The tape that DPT uses is a heat sensitive plastic that is placed and then "vulcanized" to the asphalt pavement. This makes for much better adhesion, resulting in longer wear.

    DPT Enforcement was part of the Police Department until about 1992......Not sure about Traffic Engineering, etc.

    ReplyDelete