Case Date:

9/6/2022

Good Morning, I received the following email message from Frances Elizabeth Sheets <fsheets@iu.edu> dated Fri, Sep 2, 2022 at 12:11 PM To: "martipa@bloomington.in.gov" <martipa@bloomington.in.gov> "To whom it may concern, Let me get right down to business: 7th street is an absolute fucking nightmare. I grew up in Bloomington, and now live close to downtown as I am a student at IU. This means that I navigate 7th street every single day. Let me tell you - this is not an easy task. I recognize and appreciate the effort that the city has put into the new bike lane running from campus to the B-line. As someone who rides a bike/electric scooter to get around, this bike lane is great. However, the bike lane coupled with the removal of stop signs between Indiana and Walnut has caused more problems than it has solved. Problem number 1: Absolutely no one knows when it is their turn to go. Specifically, when crossing 7th on Grant and Dunn, cars rarely (in my experience) yield to cyclists. This means that I have been inches away from being hit by a car multiple times while using the bike lane. There is no signage instructing cars to yield to those in the bike lane or vice versa. This is an immediate safety issue to me, and one that is relatively unavoidable as 7th street is the road I have to use to get to work, class, and back home every day. Since there is no bike lane on 10th street, using it as an alternate route is not a safer option. Problem number 2: Flow of traffic. Because there are no stop signs on 7th the flow of traffic is constantly a struggle. About half of all drivers stop and attempt to let pedestrians/cyclists/other cars either cross or turn. However, this often only happens in one lane, which means cars are regularly slowing, stopping, and then having to speed back up again because lines of traffic in one direction form very quickly. I experienced this literally five minutes before sitting down to write this email: there was a line of traffic waiting to turn from Grant, multiple cars slowing down traffic attempting to yield to those at the Grant stop sign, and myself and other pedestrians/cyclists trying to cross the road. Again, this is a blatant safety issue. Problem number 3: Visibility. This is more of a potential problem. Young trees have been planted along the median between the bike lane and the road. When these trees reach maturity, they will drastically lower visibility between the bike lane and the road, making the problems mentioned above even more dangerous. Since the stop signs were removed around six months ago, I have witnessed AT LEAST six car crashes on 7th between Grant and Dunn alone. I have also witnessed more drivers than I can count accidentally turning into the bike lane instead of onto the road. Pedestrians also walk in the bike lane frequently, and there was even a city-sponsored run/walk where participants were blocking the entire bike lane in front of the IMU. As someone who has both driven and biked along 7th, the removal of stop signs has not helped at all. If anything, it makes people drive unreasonably fast or unreasonably slow. Everyone I have talked to about this issue has agreed with me, so I know I am not alone in my frustration. Please, PLEASE at the very least put more signage in this area. It is quite dangerous, and as a resident of the city, the new design makes me question whether or not those in charge of city planning have actually ever driven downtown. I apologize if my tone comes off as aggressive, but in the past week alone I have almost been hit by four cars when using the bike lane!!" Thanks, Pat Martin

Case Date:

8/23/2021

The crossing lights for bikes and pedestrians are not working. I first noticed this in the morning of Thursday, August 19th. They were also not working this morning, Monday, August 23rd, around 8:50 and again around 9:10. To be more specific, when crossing west to east I could not tell if the lights were on because there is no visual or auditory indication after pressing the button. The only way I would be able to know is to walk to the north to face the lights. When crossing east to west, there is one bank of lights on the pole above the button. After pressing the button multiple times the lights did not come on. This is a distressing crossing when the lights are working. We use it daily during school when biking our child to school, maximum four times a day, five days a week. The crossing is extra distressing when the lights are not working and we have no way to tell when there are on when making the crossing west to east.

Case Date:

1/22/2024

No snow removal on icy sidewalk

Case Date:

3/28/2023

the multi use path or trail shown on https://bloomington.in.gov/arcgis/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=f262775229f74b349c853bd13ad86841 which is East Moores Pike between Clarizz and Fenbrook does not exist. People go there expecting one. The sidewalk there is ok but not a multi use path.

Case Date:

8/9/2017

In the transition from Longview Ave. to E. 7th St., the asphalt multi-use lane turns into a double-wide cement sidewalk. I've always stayed on the path because it links directly to the underpass at the bridge and seems and extension of the bike path. But today someone told me, "Get off the sidewalk idiot!" I pride myself on following the rules of bicycling. AQm I right or wrong to be using that stretch of cement? Also, Smith Road between 3rd St. and Moore's Pike is a disaster for bicyclists--way too narrow to safely bike on the road, but only a cement sidewalk on the west side, which then vanishes to become a multi-use path on the WEST side of the road, which then vanishes again at the corner of Moore's Pike to become a sidewalk traveling west. How can my kids safely ride their bikes down Smith Road!?

Case Date:

11/27/2023

Broken shards of glass are all over the bike path on South Henderson Street between Graham Place and Wylie Farm Road.

Case Date:

4/10/2023

During the school drop-off and pickup this intersection has a large amount of traffic. This is also the main corridor that people biking and walking use to get to to school and unfortunately is was not design to be compatible with both large amounts of student driver traffic, and walkers and bikers. This whole intersection as well as the path going into the school needs to be redone to promote more biking among the youth(including me). A well done biking friendly intersection and route into school would improve the safety for walkers and bikers as well as encourage more young students to walk and bike to school which would decrease the amount of traffic as well as the carbon emissions.

Case Date:

8/19/2022

A significant amount of loose gravel has washed onto the bike path right before it meets the road at the southeast corner of Arden and High. I witnessed a cyclist, attempting to turn onto Arden, crash as a result. The cyclist was OK and had only a minor abrasion but the situation is hazardous.

Case Date:

11/18/2014

Because of the shadow from the concrete wall, the sun can't melt the snow on the multi-use path. This turns to ice and is too chunky to ride through.

Case Date:

4/8/2015

Private apartment shuttles block bike lane, especially 'The Dillon'. Ticket these shuttles for illegal use of public bus stops