We wrote/illustrated earlier this week the dangerous outcome of not properly following federal guidelines in placement of temporary road signs in construction zones. In other words, how fucked up it is to put road signs in the goddamn bike lane.

Here’s that illustration again…

Adding local oomph to those federal guidelines outlined earlier, here, deep in the bureaucratic weeds is what the City Planning Department’s Development Review Services “Standard Specifications for Public Works Construction 2020 Edition” – Section 2800 – Standard Details for Temporary Traffic Control (we told you we’d be in the weeds!) specifies in its Section 2801 “General Notes” (#14 of said Notes to be exact):

CONTRACTOR SHALL PROVIDE AND MAINTAIN A SAFE AND ADEQUATE MEANS OF CHANNELIZING PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE TRAFFIC AROUND AND THROUGH THE CONSTRUCTION AREA.

The original notes are ALL-CAPS, by the way, which befits our screaming them here.

As anyone who has ever tried to complain to the right City person about such transgressions can tell you, the labyrinth of links above only begins to tell the story of how daunting and frustrating it is to attempt navigating this maze of bureaucratic corn.

Nevertheless, we shall persist, shan’t we? In fact, let’s declare our own little “Vision Zero” on this topic. Namely:

We want to see ZERO temporary road signs blocking bike lanes and sidewalks.

We would add a section on “adequate means of channelizing…,” but practice has shown that to be so infinitely far beyond the capability of the City (and County) and its contractors that we’re just with a simple, clean “Vision Zero.”

As in none. Ever. Starting now.

Who do we talk to about that?