Sometimes I think we should change the name “Better Burque” to “Tales of Richard the Lionhearted.”
Because we go on a bunch of crusades.
I won’t list them all here out of embarrassment, as doing so reveals much about both the number of things that need fixing and, especially, BB’s inability to stay focused. Do blogs suffer from DSM-recognized psychological conditions?
Where were we?
Oh yes, we had a conversation with someone the other day regarding discrepancies in bike route signage (yes, I wrote “signage”) around town. You know, bike route signs pointing riders:
- In the wrong direction
- Onto roads that are not actually bike routes
- Nowhere, because the needed bike route sign is missing
- And, cases like 2nd Street north of I-40, which is technically a bike route, but nobody should EVER be visually instructed to ride this purported “bike route.” Ever.
Thus another crusade has begun. Let’s find all the wrong and missing bike route signs, and get them fixed. Richard the Lionhearted is dead, so how about you help us instead?
I’ll start…
You’re riding west downhill on Lead Avenue, approaching Yale Blvd. You’re primarily concerned with staying alive, as you’re alongside traffic entering a curve right before a traffic signal, riding in a skinny bike lane with debris and storm grates to consider.
Still, amid your desire to remain vertical and alive, you might notice this:
See that? See the bike route sign wrongfully informing you that Yale Blvd. is a “bike route” in both directions. Well, it’s not:
The funniest (i.e., most deadly dangerous) aspect of this erroneous sign is the idea that a rider might see it, approximately seven feet before the intersection (while riding downhill) and get the impression that they should/could get in the left turn lane and ride south on Yale safely.
This would be “funny” for several reasons.
Instead, the erroneous bike route sign pointing in two directions should be placed further west somewhere east of Buena Vista Dr., which, as you can see above, IS A BIKE ROUTE in both directions.
So we should dig up the erroneously placed bike route sign, with arrows, and plant it somewhere closer to Buena Vista.
Simple. Got it?
Now let’s do this for EVERY erroneous/missing bike route sign in town. A big undertaking, right? A crusade, one might call it. And like all BB crusades, this one needs a not-so-catchy acronym. Let’s call it…
The Burque Bike Route Sign Management Project (BBRSMP).
Basically, you make an extended burp sound ending in a “P” and you’ve pronounced it correctly. As with all of the ever-changing BB crusades, readers are encouraged to send in examples via email, Facebook, Twitter, or comments below. They will be passed along to someone who actually (REALLY, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP) can implement the fixes needed.
Thus, we are not searching for some fabricated “Holy Grail” in this Crusade. This will result in actual change, something BB must admit has not occurred with many/all of our previous 2,379 crusades.
So put your medieval armor on, so to speak, and start crusading. Yes, I am asking you to metaphorically join the Knights of the Round Table…
Better Burque 
I would help, except my brain has ceased to even register bike route signage in abq, as as a means of its own self-preservation.
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Alternatively, we could encourage the actual designation of Yale – at least to the north – as an actual bike route, using the sign as precedent. Then maybe we could get them to fix the damn loop detectors on the light at Yale and Central – which lots of cyclists do use to enter the University of New Mexico, the biggest cycle commuting destination in the city.
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Combining reply to both of you, Cam/JrFleck, I’ve been told that many of the signs currently incorrect were at one time correct, i.e., “on the bike map,” but I haven’t done a lot of checking into the veracity of that. I’ve also been told that ABQRide is cause for much of the current status of Yale, even though it technically only has the 50 Bus on that street. The Bus Barn being on Yale has been reason enough, and that presence led to Buena Vista being designated instead. So much history, some of it reflected in bike route signs, I suppose.
As for the purpose of bike route signs beyond that of historic markers, they do serve a purpose, although nobody would stake their life on one. Ever. As for loop detectors at Central/Yale, the A.R.T. project has supposedly put all signalization on hold along the entire route. One wonders…why do they have to wait for the buses to do that? Indeed, one wonders this just about every day at this point. – Scot
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