Editor’s note: Karilyn Roach wrote this post. She holds a MS in Urban Planning from the University of Arizona and works as a Program Coordinator with Watershed Management Group, a Tucson non-profit. She currently sits on the Tucson-Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee and rides a Jamis Aurora Elite.
As Mike wrote on this site last month, “the small things matter” when you are a daily bike commuter. And sometimes the small things can feel really big, particularly when they look like this:
Recent utility work on Ft. Lowell Road, which is part of a City of Tucson Street Lighting and Sidewalk improvement project, left this ugly patch job with a pinch-flat inducing edge smack in the southbound bike lane on Mountain Avenue.
The damage has since been re-patched, making more of a mound, which cyclists still swerve to avoid.
Ongoing construction along Ft. Lowell, between First and Campbell Avenues, to improve lighting and sidewalks is something I can support, and I am even happy to put up with a little inconvenience for this much-needed pedestrian safety improvement. Sloppy patch jobs by the contractor are far less tolerable.
Tom Thivener, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Coordinator at the City of Tucson, says there was also a damaged water line nearby that caused some damage to the temporary patch.
Any dangerous road conditions you notice while out riding should be reported to Tucson Department of Transportation on their Bicycle/Pedestrian Spot Improvement Request form.
Thivener adds that he is aware of the problem at this particular location and wrote in an email, “It is slated to get filled permanently.”
Until then, be careful out there. Even the preferred routes like Mountain Avenue experience a little technical difficulty now and then. Safe riding everyone!
The Bicycle/Pedestrian Spot Improvement Request form looks like a new thing and a good thing! Cyclists are more likely to affected by malfunctions in road conditions and infrastructure including signage. The form gives a way to report. The form could be improved by adding “graffiti on infrastructure” and by correcting “asphlat” to “asphalt.”
That makes the list of favorite typos. I sometimes wish the asphalt was a little more as-phlat (sound it out).
lights on mountain north of ft. lowell would be good too!