A city intersection with a Dutch twist: City of Davis, Teichert Team Up for First ‘Protected Intersection’ in U.S. to Help Improve Safety for Cyclists and Pedestrians By Hamza Ali Shallwani and Russell W. Snyder
The City of Davis, in Northern California, just west of the state Capitol in Sacramento, likes to refer to itself as the “Bicycle Capital of the United States.” The city that includes the sprawling University of California, Davis campus, is home to more bicycles than people — 66,000 vs. 65,622 — as well as the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame. Ever since it created the first official bike lane in the United States in July of 1967, Davis has prided itself in its growing network of bicycle lanes and bike paths — more than 100 miles and counting — that connect every part of the city, with asphalt the predominant pavement surface. But encouraging bicycle transportation, however, presents the inevitable conflict with automobile traffic, which can produce tragic results. On one of the busiest intersections in the city, at the corner of Covell Boulevard and Pole Line Boulevard, a small white cross sits in mute testimony to the tragic death of a cyclist under the wheels of a truck nearly two decades ago. Ellison Clagett “Ellie” Gerhardy, was killed on July 16, 1997, while riding her bicycle south on Pole Line Road in East Davis, crossing Covell Boulevard at a green light. A 21-year-old UC Davis senior, she was studying Nutritional Science and was to be the co-captain of the U.C. Davis Swim Team for the 1997-98 season. She was bicycling at about 6 p.m. to her residence at the Kappa Alpha Theta house from her summer jobs as a swimming teacher for the Davis Recreation Department and assistant coach for the Davis Athletic Club Swimming Team. A truck driver from Woodland, driving only the front cab of his tomato truck, was turning right from Pole Line Road onto westbound Covell on the same green light. The two collided, and Gerhardy was crushed beneath the truck’s tires. After stopping briefly, the driver continued to his destination at the nowdefunct Hunt-Wesson cannery on Covell. He was later apprehended by police and convicted of felony hitand-run. A wooden-cross memorial to Gerhardy has been present at the northwest corner of Covell and Pole Line since 1998. It is tragic accidents such as these that have prompted the City of Davis, at every opportunity, to redesign roadway infrastructure to accommodate 10
A makeshift memorial at the intersection of Covell Boulevard and Pole Line Road in Davis, Calif., is a stark reminder of what can happen when vehicles come in conflict with bikes or pedestrians.
bike traffic and, when necessary, help keep bicyclists separated from vehicular traffic. A major trafficcalming project was completed on Aug. 4, 2014 when Fifth Street in downtown Davis between B and L streets — a major four-lane thoroughfare — was reduced to two lanes and bike lanes and other trafficcalming devices added at a cost of $836,000. The so-called “road diet” project has had minimal impact on traffic congestion but has dramatically improved safety for cyclists. The latest traffic safety innovation comes to the city all the way from the Netherlands. Already designed and well-implemented by the Dutch, the City of Davis has introduced the first official implementation of a “protected intersection” in the nation. Such protected intersections — which help separate bike traffic from vehicular traffic in intersections — have become popular in the Netherlands in both urban and rural areas due to the designs safety, efficiency in traffic control, intuitiveness and flexibility based on location. Beginning with an application for a proposed residential development in Davis known as “The Cannery” along busy Covell Boulevard, the Dutch intersection treatment located at the intersection of Covell Boulevard and J Street was approved by the Davis City Council on Sept. 16, 2014. The total cost of the project was pegged at $1 million and was funded by the The Cannery developer New Home California Asphalt Magazine • 2015 Quality Issue