Photo by Nathan Saxton
Photo by Nathan Saxton

A bicyclist and pedestrian collided in the Olive Street tunnel on the University of Arizona campus this morning.

Bicycle Tucson reader Nathan Saxton sent the photo and said medics has responded to the scene. He said the pedestrian was sitting up, but seemed disoriented.

“In the 10 minutes I was there, I saw three cyclists nearly run right into crowd,” Saxton wrote via Facebook messenger. “We complain about drivers not paying attention, but I’m afraid cyclists do the same thing on shared use paths.”

The Olive Street tunnel has had it’s share of collisions. Including one in 2010 that left a student with broken teeth and a torn muscle.

Following the crash in 2010, the UA’s Parking and Transportation department restriped the underpass and added more pavement markings to highlight conflict points and reminded pedestrians to look before crossing the path. They also set a 10 mile per hour speed limit in the underpass.

Check back for updates.

 

6 thoughts on “Cyclist and pedestrian collide in Olive Street tunnel”
  1. “We complain about drivers not paying attention, but I’m afraid cyclists do the same thing on shared use paths.”

  2. “We complain about drivers not paying attention, but I’m afraid cyclists do the same thing on shared use paths.”
    The same goes for pedestrians.  I use to commute though the UofA on the way to work.  It was a constant game of trying not to run over pedestrians walking in the road without paying any attention to traffic.  Many times I’d be riding on the road and a student would step out right in front of me without warning.

  3. You are totally completely right. I think most pedestrians have absolutely no idea they’ve wandered into the bike lane. I admit to having a secret glee everytime I see that look of sheer terror on the face of a student who finally manages to look up from his smart phone and realizes he’s about to walk right into bike traffic.

  4. I’ve had to change my daily ride down 3rd ave/4th ave to go through to UofA to get to the aviation bike path, I’d rather dodge students than the street car/cars and potential car doors on 4th ave now that 3rd ave is closed south of 6th street.  But the comments are correct, the students pay no attention whatsoever to bikes, marked bike paths, cars, traffic signals, other pedestrians.  I ride very slowly through the area, I will give them the right of way every time, but have to slam on my brakes constantly to avoid students walking right into my path without even looking to see if anyone is coming.
    They also love to cross against the light at Park & University, even with traffic coming. It’d be nice to see some pedestrian education at the U of A about walking while texting and paying attention to bikes lanes.

  5. That overpass was previously restricted, and cyclists had to walk their bikes through the underpass during certain hours (7-5 if I recall correctly). That restriction never made sense to me, because golf carts used the underpass with no restrictions on speed or time of use.
    I’m very glad that the underpass is again open to cyclists, and I hope that the UA doesn’t reimpose a restriction on the basis of this or other collisions.
    Campus is crowded. There are so many potential sites and times for pedestrian/vehicle/cycle conflict. All things considered, a 10 mph speed limit for all of campus doesn’t seem unreasonable.

  6. @bikr I’ve discovered 6th ave; used to come down Treat then across 3rd st to that area in the summer. Took me one ride after dorms opened to pass up treat->3rd and start taking glenn->6th ave past campus..

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