LETTER: New green bike lane on Mariposa is ‘dumb and dangerous’

By Mark Mitchell–
[Citrus Heights now has its first green bike lane, with more coming; July 14th]  I live near Mariposa and Madison and frequently use the intersection to travel east or west on Madison Avenue. I’m not sure who came up with the final lane design at that intersection in regards to bicyclists and the new “green bike lane.” They probably have minimal experience riding a bike in city traffic.

The first thing most bicyclists do when they come to an intersection that doesn’t have a car sitting there is they push the button, which triggers the signal, to change the light green for them. With the new design, the bicyclist if they stay in the “green” bike lane, it puts them in the middle of cars on their left side going straight into the Northridge Golf Club or making a left and heading eastbound on Madison, or on their right side is the cars making a right and heading westbound on Madison.

This is dumb and dangerous for both cars and bikes at the same time!

First off, for the lone bicyclist sitting there with no cars, what triggers the light to change? And secondly, while sitting there in your car, if you’re the first one at the light making the left onto Madison Avenue, watching the traffic whizzing by at 50+ mph, and you can see a very tight right turn from westbound Madison onto Mariposa, that to me doesn’t look good for the person making the right on Mariposa, me sitting there, or the bicyclist waiting in the “green bike lane next to me!!

Redo it and keep the bike lane next to the curb, please!

Editor’s Note: The Sentinel’s policy is to publish all letters received, regardless of viewpoint. No additional letters were received on this topic as of July 22. To submit a letter to the editor online, click here.