Cortland Bridge and Glass/Metal Debris

I use this bridge quite frequently, and notice that the ascending portion of the  westbound bike lane before the bridge always has fresh batches of mostly pulverized glass and fine chards of metal, nails, etc. What's VERY curious is that the offending fragments are ALWAYS in the exact same area. This is a 3 year observation. Not so much in the other direction. Is this a Finkl (steel factory) thing, the metal recycling area, or a conspiracy? What is up my dudes/dudettes? Lately I haven't gotten any flats, but this area has been problematic for me in the past. Now I just cut into the the car portion of the lane until I reach the metal plates of the bridge.

 

I appreciate getting this doubt resolved, and hopefully there's a way to eliminate this problem in a political/city/alderman-ish way.

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Permalink Reply by Brian on April 7, 2011 at 9:55am
That's a pretty sharp curve in the road there if you're driving. I'm curious if all the scrapper traffic (coming to and from the recycling center--with trucks filled with broken glass and metal pieces) tends to lose little bits as they make that curve?
Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on April 7, 2011 at 12:22pm

No offense but you live in a dense city and are choosing a route that takes you through a busy industrial corridor that contains several steel processing and recycling centers; a higher concentration of steel debris is to be expected. 

There are really two practical solutions to your issue:

1. Complain to your alderman and try to get the steel centers shut down or start up daily (if not more) street sweeping.

2. Find a route that does not take you through a bustling industrial area.

Permalink Reply by Jared on April 7, 2011 at 12:27pm
Isn't Finkl Steel going to be moving soon?
Permalink Reply by David on April 7, 2011 at 1:16pm

There's also just the curiosity factor.  I go by there about once or twice a month and I too have always wondered why there's always glass in the exact same spot.  I've never really been sure whether it's fresh debris or whether for some weird reason the street sweepers don't reach the curb right there.   Even if there's no fix, it's still one of the myriad of interesting enigmas I see while wandering through the city.

The "curve in the road" theory makes sense, but isn't the recycling center on the wrong side for that?  I thought the center was east of the bridge, but I've never really know for sure.

 

 


notoriousDUG said:

No offense but you live in a dense city and are choosing a route that takes you through a busy industrial corridor that contains several steel processing and recycling centers; a higher concentration of steel debris is to be expected. 

There are really two practical solutions to your issue:

1. Complain to your alderman and try to get the steel centers shut down or start up daily (if not more) street sweeping.

2. Find a route that does not take you through a bustling industrial area.

Permalink Reply by Nick Wilson on April 7, 2011 at 2:56pm

This is not Finkl! It is all of the scrapers/junkeros dropping crap out of the back of their trucks on the way to the scrapyard on the west side of the river. I have seen trucks dump shrapnel right in front of me going westward over the river. They are usually overloaded and sagging in the back of the truck and this easily allows shrapnel to fall out of their open tailgates.

 

This would need city traffic enforcement to clean up the problem. The people allowing the shrapnel to get dumped, probably don't live in the neighborhood and are not conscientious of the problem they are creating.

Permalink Reply by thepuppies on April 7, 2011 at 4:23pm
I too have noticed this for years.  Always heading west and always in the bike lane. Here is the problem with the scrapper truck theory: the glass is only in the bike lane, never in the street. If it was the trucks bringing scrap across the bridge the glass would also be in the street. Besides, these trucks haul scrap metal, not glass to be recycled. Time for a good old fashioned stakeout.
Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on April 7, 2011 at 4:57pm
I also think the sharpness of that left turn, with the visual effect of the rapidly approaching bridge structure, makes it difficult (or at least high risk) for street cleaners to get close to the apex of that turn.
Permalink Reply by Bicycle Poet on April 8, 2011 at 6:58am

I too have consistantly seen glass on Cortland, just east of the bridge, in the westbound bike lane, for several years.

 

I think that the reason the glass is more built-up/noticeable in the bike lane vs. the auto-traffic lane is because the auto-traffic lane sees more traffic (more & larger tires), which have a way of clearing debris from roads.

thepuppies said:

I too have noticed this for years.  Always heading west and always in the bike lane. Here is the problem with the scrapper truck theory: the glass is only in the bike lane, never in the street. If it was the trucks bringing scrap across the bridge the glass would also be in the street. Besides, these trucks haul scrap metal, not glass to be recycled. Time for a good old fashioned stakeout.
Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on April 8, 2011 at 7:34am

Calls to 311 and Alderman (not sure who that is here) are highly recommended.

 

Did anyone see this article: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8057471

 

We would hope that this feature could include things like this issue, bike lanes that need to be repainted and people parking in bike lanes, etc.

 

Thanks,

Ethan Spotts, Marketing & Communications, Active Trans

Permalink Reply by Bicycle Poet on April 8, 2011 at 7:40am
I won't say that I disagree with the recommendation to report these sort of bike lane problems to 311, but I can say that I did just that multiple times in the past few years and yet we're all still dealing with this problem.  Perhaps the call volume needs to increase?

Active Transportation Alliance said:

Calls to 311 and Alderman (not sure who that is here) are highly recommended.

 

Did anyone see this article: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8057471

 

We would hope that this feature could include things like this issue, bike lanes that need to be repainted and people parking in bike lanes, etc.

 

Thanks,

Ethan Spotts, Marketing & Communications, Active Trans

Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on April 8, 2011 at 8:10am

Yes, volume increase is helpful...unfortunately 311 isn't a perfect system and the more calls the better. Especially if calls are also going to Alderman.

 

Ethan, with Active Trans

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on April 8, 2011 at 9:21am

Thanks for that article link.  Related to that, but slightly OT for this thread:

I'd like to see more complete map info provided to 311 operators.  Those of us who ride the Major Taylor Trail and Burnham Greenway on the far south side have to go through a laborious process to give accurate locations when reporting graffiti or other issues via 311 because these trails are NOT in the 311 system.

 

Active Transportation Alliance said:

Calls to 311 and Alderman (not sure who that is here) are highly recommended.

 

Did anyone see this article: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8057471

 

We would hope that this feature could include things like this issue, bike lanes that need to be repainted and people parking in bike lanes, etc.

 

Thanks,

Ethan Spotts, Marketing & Communications, Active Trans

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