Riverside Ave near the Cummer WTF?

[urbanlibertarian]

Is it legal for bikes to use the Riverwalk to get back and forth between Downtown and Riverside?

[Charles Hunter]

If it isn't a lot of folks are breaking the law.  Every time I'm on the Riverwalk, there's always several cyclists.

[David]

Is it legal for bikes to use the Riverwalk to get back and forth between Downtown and Riverside?

I'm not sure about the northbank riverwalk, but I know the southbank was def illegal in the early part of the decade.

About 7-8ish years ago a security guard yelled at me to get off my bike on the riverwalk, saying it was illegal. I snapped back saying "you wonder why our downtown is so dead? because of stupid laws like that!" (i was 22ish)  he said "hey man, i'm just doing my job" etc etc. Realizing he did have a pretty crappy job, I backed off and exited the riverwalk.

Now here it is, 2009. I'm in my 30's and ride my bike on the riverwalk a few times a week. No one says anything now! It feels like a small sign of progress, but the southbank riverwalk is in bad shape. It's pretty brutal riding a bike on there.

The northbank riverwalk however, is a pretty sweet ride. It's a great way to get from downtown to riverside, plus it's scenic too.

I think a good compromise for cyclist on a pedestrian oriented development such as the riverwalk is to watch your speed.  Don't graze past people at 20mph and get us all banned.

[thelakelander]

Its legal to ride bikes on the Northbank Riverwalk.

[BridgeTroll]

Would it be helpful to pedestrians and bikers if an informal bike lane was designated on the riverwalk?  Many walkers and joggers are wearing headphones and do not hear bikes or verbal warning from bikes approaching from behind.  Perhaps signs or icons painted on the path designating a prefered lane to segregate bikers and walkers.

[TPC]

Good Idea BridgeTroll, I'm pretty courteous  on the Riverwalk but sometimes I'm screaming at people "On your left!" so they can hear me over their headphones. Or when there is a group 5 people wide it's hard to pass them.

[jaxlore]

i am the same way I try and let people know I am on there right or left, but they don't hear, I am going to buy a bike bell, just because a friend of mine nearly got thrown of the main street bridge when a jogger decided to move at the last minute.  I guess my biggest irk is that there should be a designated bike lane somewhere that cuts through Riverside to Downtown. The Stockton to Edison would work, but it sounds like it is a bit out of the way for some folks. And of course that still leaves everyone perplexed as to why there is a bike lane on Riverside avenue if there is nothing to feed it. I usually go over the acosta to san marco in the morning and then in the evening I go over the main street bridge and down the riverwalk to the overpass to riverside ave.

[RiversideLoki]

The northbank riverwalk however, is a pretty sweet ride. It's a great way to get from downtown to riverside, plus it's scenic too.

I think a good compromise for cyclist on a pedestrian oriented development such as the riverwalk is to watch your speed.  Don't graze past people at 20mph and get us all banned.

It's my favorite part of my routine ride. And I think you're right on the speed. However, this past weekend I found myself trucking it to get away from a few meth heads that were out walking. I was going slowly and gave them the "on your right!" and they freaked out and almost jumped in the river, then started chasing me. *whew* mountain bike for the win.

Riverside Ave does need to be fixed. That little median they put up in front of the Cummer is going to make traffic for RAM a nightmare. I'm torn between supporting the RAM and going up, and avoiding the area at all costs because it's going to be insane.

[Shwaz]

Has anyone noticed the camera's newly installed on the traffic lights at the intersection's of Riverside Ave. & Post / Riverside Ave & Riverside Park?

Are these for capturing driver's running red light's?

[ChriswUfGator]

Has anyone noticed the camera's newly installed on the traffic lights at the intersection's of Riverside Ave. & Post / Riverside Ave & Riverside Park?

Are these for capturing driver's running red light's?

If JAX is really installing redlight cams, then I'm going to buy one of those license plate covers that is clear plastic until you push a button, and then it turns opaque so you can't read the numbers. Hehehehe.

This city has so many completely unnecessary red lights, it's ridiculous. Especially in Riverside. And most of them don't even work on the sensors in the street, they are just timed. So even if it's 2am and there's not another car around for 2 miles, you still have to sit there for 5 minutes waiting for green.

[Shwaz]

This city has so many completely unnecessary red lights, it's ridiculous. Especially in Riverside. And most of them don't even work on the sensors in the street, they are just timed. So even if it's 2am and there's not another car around for 2 miles, you still have to sit there for 5 minutes waiting for green.

Totally agree. The light at Riverside Ave & the YMCA takes over 5 minutes some mornings... I normally just head out right and make a u-turn to head back south on Riverside Ave.

That is just one example I'm sure there are many more.

[ChriswUfGator]

This city has so many completely unnecessary red lights, it's ridiculous. Especially in Riverside. And most of them don't even work on the sensors in the street, they are just timed. So even if it's 2am and there's not another car around for 2 miles, you still have to sit there for 5 minutes waiting for green.

Totally agree. The light at Riverside Ave & the YMCA takes over 5 minutes some mornings... I normally just head out right and make a u-turn to head back south on Riverside Ave.

That is just one example I'm sure there are many more.

I TOTALLY agree.

Driving from my house down Riverside Ave. to the entrance of downtown there are...count 'em...FOURTEEN red lights, with each one taking between at least 2-3 minutes, and some MUCH longer, even though there are never any cars.

And out of the 14, only 4 are actually necessary. IMO, the only necessary ones are RS/King, RS/St. Vincents, RS/Margaret, and RS and Fidelity's main entrance. I would normally have included the RS/5pts light, but they just put a huge solid concrete median there, and now you can only go right onto RS from 5pts anyway, and so a stop sign would do just fine. Why is that light even still there? WTF? It serves no purpose now.

The rest of the 14 lights are completely useless wastes of time. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been stopped at any of them and have actually seen another car using the light to cross traffic. They should all be flashing yellows or stop signs to accomodate the few cars that use those tiny side streets. And why do the 20-30 people using the YMCA at any given time warrant a timed red-light that holds up traffic on RS Ave? WTF? That's another one that clearly should be a stop sign or a flashing yellow.

And even worse, they closed the RS Ave. fire station down what? A year and a half ago? But the light in front of it is still there and active. Double WTF!!!!! on that one. If I didn't run redlights (and in 9 years of doing this, I've had 0 accidents, and 0 near-misses, BTW) it would take me 2 or 3 times as long to get anywhere in this neighborhood.

[Steve]

Keep in mind however that the lights are also there to also slow drivers down, so Riverside Avenue doesn't turn into a freeway.

BTW, the light at Riverside and Forest is used.  Though Fire Station 5 is closed, the DuPont building is now opened, so people do use that.

My guess is that you don't drive this in the AM/PM rush hour.  I agree some of them are not heavily used, but getting out of those buildings at rush hour would be damn near impossible.  One that I'm thinking of is Riverside and Edison (this is the exit from EverBank's garage).

[ChriswUfGator]

Keep in mind however that the lights are also there to also slow drivers down, so Riverside Avenue doesn't turn into a freeway.

BTW, the light at Riverside and Forest is used.  Though Fire Station 5 is closed, the DuPont building is now opened, so people do use that.

My guess is that you don't drive this in the AM/PM rush hour.  I agree some of them are not heavily used, but getting out of those buildings at rush hour would be damn near impossible.  One that I'm thinking of is Riverside and Edison (this is the exit from EverBank's garage).

Yeah, I forgot about that new building, but even so the DuPont testamentary trust doesn't have that many corporate employees, probably <100. That's another situation besides the YMCA where they should just get a flashing light or a stop sign.

While I'll admit I don't drive that stretch during rush hour every day, I have driven through there occasionally around 5:00-5:30pm, and the lights are only slightly less than completely useless then.

The main parking garages for those buildings are across the street, so most of the employees don't need a light to get their car out. The only thing the lights are really accomplishing is letting a  flood of people use the crosswalk to get to the parking garages on the other side. The amount of actual cars entering/exiting the buildings at those light cycles is very small (maybe 10 at a time, usually far less).

So why not give the cars a stop sign and a cement median, and they can go make a U-turn at the next (actually useful) legal light? And as for the crosswalks, a skybridge CLEARLY should have been required before Fidelity was allowed to build those garages.

I can think of at least 8 of these lights that if you removed them entirely, might inconvenience what? A hundred cars a day? Meanwhile, the 100k cars a day using Riverside all waste 2-3 minutes X however many lights you catch. And a disproportionate number of them sit red, even when there is no cross traffic. I guess that's the speed-control function you mentioned. But even then, it's a 4-lane divided major road, is speed control that necessary beyond normal enforcement (tickets/radar and such)?

[TPC]

Shwaz, I noticed those cameras the other day too. I think 1 of the 4 at Riverside and Post aims towards the parking area between post and the water. I'm going to look again on my ride home tonight.