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East Blvd can be hazardous for pedestrians and cyclists


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I just got back from my daily run and witnessed a car take out a cyclist in front of City Tavern. He is alive but was not moving at all when they placed him in the ambulance :( After living right off of East for over a year its hard to believe this was first accident I have seen. The sidewalks make the area eminently walkable but from Brixx to Freedom Park the space that cars,cyclists, walkers, and joggers have to share definitely gets tight. The streetscape may help but its not going to reduce the amount of usage thats only growing. There is no easy solution. I am guilty of it too but not paying complete attention is dangerous to the driver and everyone around.

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I saw the accident too, I work inside of Kinkos and the accident was right on the edge of our parking lot and City Tavern's. Was a bit chaotic.....I hope that the new East Blvd streetscape will help to make the road friendlier to pedestrians and bicycles.

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What happened was the person was turning into the Kinkos parking lot, and im not sure if the guy on the bike was on the road or sidewalk, but when she pulled into out parking lot she hit him and he went up on her hood i do believe, not a dent on her hood but a black mark was left on it. The cyclist had a broken leg maybe and was bleeding, was concious but couldnt get up. The driver was young and I think she was on the phone with her parents. Um.....thats about all the news reporting that I can think of LOL! You were here on MOnday Redjeep huh? I am sure I see a lot of UP people here, we all just dont know eachother lol.

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They're reducing it to one lane in each direction?? I'm all for pedestrian and cyclist safety, but I think I'll be completely avoiding East Blvd from that point on. It's bad enough when you have left-turners blocking one of the two existing lanes and traffic won't let you around them. Now I expect the entire street will become one continuous parking lot. Oy vey...

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It is a paradox, but it is a current trend in DOTs as it actually allows the roads to handle more cars in addition to more pedestrians and bikers. It isn't true of all roads, but roads that handle a medium load of cars seem to do well from a change like this. Studies have proven it, and you can read about them if you look up what they are doing on East Blvd.

It is traffic calming, so everyone will need to go a little slower, but somehow it carries just as much and sometimes more traffic. It is also safer, as there is a median, bike lanes, and wider car lanes.

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East Blvd is a major thoroughfare that serves Myers Park, Myers Park Manor, Freedom Park and points SE. People use East to connect this area to the freeway's, West charlotte, and downtown. And they have made traffic worse by allowing the installation of speed humps on cross streets like Lilac/Cumberland so more people are using East to keep from having their car torn up. I've never understood the mentality of destroying the advantages of a street grid by putting up barriers and "traffic calming" devices. East Blvd is never going to be that pedestrian friendly of a street.

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East Blvd is a major throughfare not a quaint village lane. Although according to ads and commercials for the new condos along the street East is a small "neighborhood" enclave apart from Charlotte where everything is calm and peaceful. East may be aesthetically pleasing relative to other major routes but its lethal for runners and cyclists and hardly a pseudo Main Street.

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Not on East Blvd, but I witnessed no fewer than three pedestrians in Uptown yesterday during lunch try to cross against the light and almost get hit by cars that were obeying the traffic laws. This was all in about a ten minute span. I don't know if it is just a case of people not paying attention, or individuals not accustomed to the "big city". We all know there are stupid drivers, but I guess there are stupid pedestrians as well.

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I hope the cyclist is ok. As the board cycling nut I am always sadden to see another rider go down.

It doesn't amtter if the cyclist was ont he widewalk or road. Cyclists are allowed to ride sidewalk in Charlotte. It is the motorist's responsibility to check the sidewalk before pulling into it.

Traffic speeds are way too fast on the surface streets in this town. I wish the city would install speed cameras on East, Tyron, Park, etc. I am tired of having cars driving 20+ mph over the speed limit.

Does anyone have a link to the East blvd redesign? I hate that section of East Blvd. Narrow lanes, wide SUV's driven by people on phones, and high speeds make that road a deathtrap for cyclists.

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Here is a link to the project's page.....this will be from Kings to Scott. They have already begun lowering the curbs to allow for the sidewalk cutouts......I love this plan, but the section between Dilworth Rd. West and Euclid is more important IMO.....that section has been indefinetly delayed.
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Here is a link to the project's page.....this will be from Kings to Scott. They have already begun lowering the curbs to allow for the sidewalk cutouts......I love this plan, but the section between Dilworth Rd. West and Euclid is more important IMO.....that section has been indefinetly delayed.

:wub: Holy crap that is wonderful! :wub: Now maybe they will do Park Rd next. ;)

This is the type of progressive traffic calming the city needs to do in more areas.

How does one request that the project be extended to South?

They're reducing it to one lane in each direction?? I'm all for pedestrian and cyclist safety, but I think I'll be completely avoiding East Blvd from that point on.

Then it is already working. :P

I hope he is okay. Anybody heard from r&w? :)

Thanks for thinking of me. :) Yes I am ok as luckily it was not me. I have started to ride the sidewalk there as I have been hit by 4 side view mirrors on suvs on that strecth of road in two years.

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^Ha! Good for you, good for pedestrians, not so good for the businesses there. Actually, I'll still drive there, I'll just be sitting in traffic emitting more CO2 than I used to. Hopefully all those traffic-alleviating studies will ring true and it'll be a win-win for everyone. I guess we'll all find out together.

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