San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Turnouts to protect Mt. Diablo cyclists
Years of angst and accidents between cyclists and drivers on the narrow roads heading up Mount Diablo could taper off as early as next year, after $1.5 million in state funding was approved to build up to 70 bike turnouts.
“These turnouts are going to save lives and, I hope, be a model for the nation,” said state Sen. Steve Glazer, DOrinda, who shepherded the program through the state budget process. “Making Mount Diablo safer for cyclists and motorists will let more people from our community and elsewhere enjoy this awesome place without putting their lives in danger.”
Glazer said the program is a template for ending conflicts between drivers and cyclists on narrow back roads elsewhere.
An encounter can hit its flash point when a motorist gets stuck behind slowmoving bikes heading uphill and maneuver around them by crossing the doubleyellow lines into oncoming traffic to pass.
On May 30 and July 3, there were two more headon accidents on Mount Diablo when car drivers encountered cyclists riding downhill in the oncoming lane. In both cases, the drivers were accused of crossing over the double yellow lines on blind curves to pass cyclists riding slowly uphill.
“Each of these accidents happened where turnouts are planned nearby,” said Alan Kalin, president of the Mount Diablo Cyclists, a local club with 1,300 members.
“Every bike turnout has the potential to prevent a collision and save a life,” Kalin said. “We’ve been trying to get them built for 10 years. When I heard the funding came through, I was overwhelmed. A historic moment.”
About 150,000 cyclists, most from the East Bay and across Northern California, come to ride Mount Diablo each year. From downtown Walnut Creek, it’s a 26mile round trip to the top of 3,489foot Diablo and back. From a popular parking area on Diablo Boulevard, it’s a 23.5mile round trip. While a 700foot stretch near the summit is rated at a 13% grade, most of the climb is a rhythmic push at a 5% grade.
Mount Diablo Cyclists first proposed the turnouts about 10 years ago with support from California State Parks. In 2014, State Parks built the first turnouts, and in the past seven years the agency has installed 17 total.
The turnouts are “a blessing,” said Bruce Erickson, a volunteer park aide who works at the Diablo Summit Visitor Center and has driven the route 15 times per month for most of the past 10 years. When a driver is stuck at slow speed behind cyclists plowing uphill, knowing that a turnout is ahead diffuses the tension, he said.
State Parks also painted doubleyellow, nopassing lines on 17 miles of roads, added bicycle arrow icons (“sharrows,” they’re called) every half mile on uphill lanes to promote sharing the road, and posted signs up and down the route for cars with messages like, “Do not pass bikes on blind curves,” and for cyclists on downhill lanes, “Avoid crash slow down.”
While State Parks had approved the program to build turnouts, the Legislature and governor did not fund it last year. Sen. Glazer and his chief of staff, Dan Weintraub, are credited with negotiating support from the governor’s office over the past six months, Kalin said.
For decades on the roads heading up Mount Diablo, as well as most narrow back roads of the Bay Area, there has been tension, shouting matches and showdowns over close calls between cyclists and cars.
It hit a peak from 2010 to 2014 with more than 100 collisions at Mount Diablo, according to State Parks, and the latest accidents show a familiar pattern.
According to “The Traffic Collision Report for Mount Diablo State Park,” obtained by the Mount Diablo Cyclists through a Freedom of Information Act request, there have been 16 bikeversusvehicle collisions in a 2.5mile stretch of
South Gate Road, roughly between the posted state park boundary and entrance kiosk.
“Every one of these accidents was on a blind curve and each resulted in injuries to the cyclist,” Kalin said.
On May 30, Gary Spinella was descending on South Gate Road, and as he rounded a bend, found himself suddenly staring headon into a Honda van in his lane, according to the accident report he shared with Diablo Mountain Cyclists. Spinnella went into an emergency controlled crash to avoid hitting the Honda headon. He sustained six broken ribs and an injured right hand and shoulder.
On July 3, a male cyclist was hit in similar circumstances, according to witnesses: He was sailing downhill in the same vicinity of South Gate Road and was struck by a car heading in the opposite direction. He suffered broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a fractured shoulder blade.
Glazer’s staff said the new turnouts will likely be dedicated to the memory of Joe Shami, an 86yearold Diablo cycling legend who died last spring after being struck by an SUV while riding in Lafayette. Shami had ridden to the Mount Diablo Summit 615 weeks in a row over 11 years.
State Parks has not set a date to start construction, but it is expected to begin this fall.