More issues with the POORLY PLANNED bike trail upgrades

As if the screaming contractors and idiotic detours, signage and blockades aren’t enough, we now have to deal with an inferior resurfacing, that is actually extremely dangerous and causing accidents.

As I pointed out recently they have been doing upgrades to the bike trail this summer. Some of it has been totally resurfaced (which is the best way to go) but in a effort to SAVE money they are not resurfacing it all (a resurface is actually pouring a few inches of NEW asphalt over the current trail).

On a stretch out to Family Park and various other spots on the trail they just filled the cracks (with a sealant instead of actually filling the cracks with asphalt) All the sealant does is make a crack twice as bumpy, because the original crack still exists because the sealant just settles into the crack, then it creates two new bumps with the dried sealant on either side of the crack, then they just put a black oil over the top (lipstick on a pig) essentially just painting over the cracks and sealing the bumps. It is dumb on many levels, including creating more bumps and sealing those bumps with oil, but what makes it worse is that it makes the bike trail extremely slick (oil is a petroleum based product, oil and water don’t mix). If it is wet after a rain, or if there is extreme humidity or spotty ice patches it turns the trail into an ice skating rink. I have almost wiped out a few times and have learned that you should take corners slow on this oil surfacing or you WILL wreck.

Last week after a brief afternoon rain I took the trail to commute to work. There is this hairy corner under the interstate by Rotary Park that I always take slow, even in dry conditions because of the poor visibility, the incline and the slippery trail. Not everyone gets it. As I was navigating the corner I noticed it was very slick so I was going pretty slow. Off the side of the trail I saw someone had wiped out on a regular road bike (non-electric). I actually knew the person. He slipped taking the corner and ended up in the trees with scratches on his face, hands, arms and knees and covered in mud. I asked if he was ok, and he was, but pretty scratched up. I told him that black oil is just like snot to ride on when wet or humid and you have to watch yourself. He is lucky he didn’t run into a tree and cause more injury to himself. He is a DTSF business owner, so I told him to complain to the parks department about the hazard, I think he will. Just another example of poor planning. You didn’t fix a damn thing and you actually made it worse.

As for the resurfacing (the best way to go) they need to put in a rough aggregate into the asphalt so the trail isn’t so slick after a rain instead of straight oil. Who was the genius engineer with the city that came up with this? They need to be fired.