Last week, the City painted the green bike boxes on Erwin Road at the intersection with Anderson Street. This is the most visible example so far of the safety improvements that we were able to gain through our advocacy with the City this summer. While many of the improvements that we asked for to improve safety for people walking, biking, and using transit on Erwin Road were not approved, we should celebrate the improvements that have been made. Without the voices of advocates calling for an Erwin Road that works for all users, it’s unlikely that NCDOT would have made any changes at all.
Green painted bike boxes on Erwin Road at the intersection with Anderson Street
The Improvements to Look for on Erwin Road
The City of Durham was able to convince NCDOT to approve the following safety improvements for people walking, biking, and using transit on Erwin Road:
“The changes to Erwin Road now advancing will improve safety for pedestrians with high-visibility crosswalks, additional crossing time, including a green “walk” signal for pedestrians ahead of the green for vehicular traffic (Leading Pedestrian Interval or LPI). To address cyclist safety, the project adds a new buffered bike lane between Flowers Drive and Anderson St. and adds a 2.5’ buffer to the existing bike lanes between Anderson St. and the NC 147 overpass, along with green pavement markings at intersections to draw attention to the bicycle facilities.” (excerpted from letter by Durham Transportation Director Sean Egan to Bike Durham Advocacy Chair Erik Landfried dated August 19, 2022)
Our understanding from the City staff is that the City also intends to install flex-post delineators to the buffered bike lanes mentioned above in order to further separate people on bikes from the traffic lanes.
What’s a Bike Box and How do I Use It?
At the intersection of Erwin Road and Anderson Street, the City has painted green bike boxes, providing a refuge for people on bikes who are making left turns from Erwin onto Anderson. If you are approaching the intersection on your bike while the light is red, or turning red, you can continue in the bike lane (also green near the intersection) until reaching the large green box at the intersection. Here, you can move to the left to be in front of the first car waiting to turn left. (Drivers must wait behind the bike box while waiting for the light to change.). Then when the light turns green, you are at the front of the line of vehicles to turn left. This makes you more visible in the intersection, and provides strong visual cues for drivers about where to look for people riding bikes. Here is a link to a video clip about how to use a bike box - from Iowa City, Iowa.
Our volunteer leaders on the Erwin Road advocacy, David Bradway and Erik Landfried, joined me on Wednesday morning to educate people biking through the intersection about how to use the new bike boxes. We were also able to make sure that they had lights and a bagel!
Getting the Other Changes We Need
There is a lot of work left to be done to get the changes that people walking, biking, and using transit along Erwin Road need to stay safe, and to make Erwin Road a great street for everyone. We continue pushing the City, NCDOT, and Duke University to commit funds to develop a plan to make Erwin Road a safe and great road for all. The first opportunity for that may be through a bus rapid transit (BRT) study that is expected to be included in the final Durham County Transit Plan this winter.
Through David Bradway’s leadership, we are also continuing to engage with Duke staff and students to encourage their active participation in identifying ways to connect through campus as an alternative to biking and walking directly on Erwin Road.
Finally, we have a team of volunteers we call the Safe Streets Research Team who are gathering insights from other communities about how to effectively advocate for changes with NCDOT. We’re also coordinating with the City’s Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) to advocate for safety improvements on streets scheduled for repaving by NCDOT and the City in 2023 (see letter from BPAC Chair Susanne Schmal to City and County staff).
We’d like you to volunteer with us to make Erwin Road and all of Durham’s streets safe for everyone. Contact Erik Landfried at erik@bikedurham.org to plug into our advocacy work - our Advocacy Committee meets monthly on the third Thursday at 7pm.