Confusion reigns: Evolving cyclist signage

 A friend recently sent me two images of streets that had been newly painted with "bike lanes".  The first is University Place, which runs north-south at the western edge of UVM's main campus.  It's a one-way road with standard solid line markings with a bicycle symbol inside the bike lanes to show that motorists should keep out.  (unless safely passing -- you can even cross double yellow lines in VT to safely pass) 

The second is of Queen City Park Road (QCP), which runs south from Home Ave and then makes a 90-degree turn left to run east to Shelburne Rd.  I have mostly driven on the short section that connects connected the end of Pine St to Shelburne Rd, but the initial section runs by Burton and is around where this photo was taken.  

The problem is there are people driving QCP that think it’s one way, so they drive in the middle of the road and avoid the bike lanes even if cars are headed toward them.

At first glance I assumed the bicycle symbol was a sharrow, indicating that the lane was a shared space, but on second glance realized it was the cyclist with single directional arrow, which usually indicates a dedicated bike lane.  

10-15 years ago I would have said this signage was *wrong*, and there should be sharrows on QCP to signal to drivers that they could use that space.  

Sharrows were still fairly new 20 years ago, and then quickly proliferated, but over time, everyone began to hate them (e.g., "We Were Wrong About Sharrows" and "Sharrows used to make sense in theory, but are now mostly useless and possibly dangerous").

It looks like Burlington DPW may be moving toward eliminating the sharrow symbol and always using the cyclist with single arrow to make motorists aware that cyclists may be in this space, and then use dashed vs solid lane lines to show shared vs dedicated bike lanes.  (I have written to DPW to ask if this is current policy)

Signage around cycling infrastructure is struggling to standardize, but it is relatively new and will likely need to continue to evolve.  Until it reaches a more final form, everyone will be a little confused.

Annual Average Temperatures in Burlington

It's the start of another year in Burlington with no snow on the ground and none forecast in the near future.  NOAA provides a ton of weather data and so I downloaded some Burlington, VT weather data in CSV format.  The data I used comes from two stations, one for measurement prior to 1940, and data from the Burlington International Airport since 1940.

A quick scatterplot shows the average temperature in degrees Fahrenheit by year.  The years start with 1902 and go to present day.  The average yearly temperature ranges from about 42 to 50.  Obviously, average daily temperatures for individual days within every year have a much wider range; looking at the average yearly temperature is a useful first look at long-term trends.  Just by eyeballing, it certainly looks like there is a decades-long upward trend from the 60's to today, and a typical day in 2020 is 8 degrees warmer than a typical day in 1960.  That could easily be the difference between a January with snow cover and a January with bare ground.  

Fitting a best-fit line to the data helps us to see that long-term upward trend: 

... though a quick examination of the residuals confirms that the straight line is not a great model here.

A third-order polynomial does a much better job of capturing the initial stability, followed by an upward rise in temperatures.  A piecewise spline might be even better, but this is enough for a first quick look.  

Next steps might be to look at how the temperatures change over time for each day of the year, or look at the snow depth data. 

Disruptive Flyovers in the NNE

The outgoing mayor wants to extend VTANG's lease at the Burlington International airport for another 25 years.  The current lease is set to expire in just under 25 years; however, the DoD apparently will not release funding for construction projects at the base unless there are more than 25 years left on the lease.  Capital expenditures are only planned out 5 years in advance,but $50M is on the line.  That said, it might be nice to renegotiate VTANG's mission.  

A sore spot for some residents over the last few years has been the introduction of the F-35 planes at the base.  I've been a resident of the NNE, and worked remotely from my home, for 22 years.  For the first 18 years, a few times a year the F-16s would fly overhead and I'd think, "Wow!  That's loud," and go on about my day.  With the arrival of the F-35s, this changed, and in April of 2020, I started to keep track of the number of flyovers that disrupted normal life -- not "I can hear them in the distance", but "I have difficulty having a normal conversation inside my home because the planes are so loud."  The table and chart below are summaries of that dataset.  What is striking is not only the number of minutes of disruption, but that 2023 is showing a significant increase over previous years. 

Below are charts showing:

• Flyovers by day of the week; they are mostly in the middle of the week.
• Flyovers by time of day; they are typically during the first two hours of the workday and then again after a noon lunch 
• Flyovers by time of day and date; this shows the consistency of when the disruptions typically occur over time

In my dataset, I record the date and time of the disruption; if the disruptive noise continues for several minutes, I record each minute, which helps to differentiate between a relatively brief flyover versus an extended one.  An important caveat is that I don't run outside to check whether the aircraft causing the disruption is an F-35; I simply record the timestamp.  July 2022, for example, stands out because VTANG's F-35s were deployed overseas at that time.  I don't know what other aircraft might have been flying during that month; again, I simply record the timestamp and try to get back to work.

Obviously, this is my personal experience and not everyone is adversely affected by the noise.

I don't know whether the issue is that the F-35s are significantly louder than the F-16s, or whether they've changed the flight patterns so they fly over my neighborhood more often.  What I do know is that this is a drastic change from my experience with the F-16s; if they had been this disruptive when I arrived in 2001, I likely would have relocated.  

First cross-country skiing day of winter 2020-21

 First day with enough snow to ski at Ethan Allen Homestead.  I've never seen even half so many cars in the lots as today.  So great to see people getting out.

(note: published 1/2/26; backdated to 2021 when I originally shared with friends)

City of Burlington looking to sell Burlington Telecom

This makes me sad.  Like our transportation system, internet service should be public infrastructure.  Whether we get to our favorite websites via an asphalt highway, gravel drive, or dirt road should not be at the mercy of "market forces"**, but a conscious choice made by citizens.  Ten years ago, when we voted for BT, I thought we, as a City, recognized this, but a combination of factors (active interference from Comcast, a less-than-competent rollout of service, the financial meltdown of 2008 unexpectedly coming at the same time BT was looking to refinance their loan) have eroded voter confidence and many are ready to get rid of it.  

Ironically, at the same time we are looking to divest ourselves of control of this service, Google is touting the importance of the internet to our small Vermont businesses.  Google is right, but our future success requires statewide, top-notch connectivity.  Leaving that entirely in the hands of Comcast and Fairpoint seems like a poor option to me.

** there are multiple providers in VT, but Comcast is the only provider at my address

Spring in Champlain Valley, and the robins are singing!

Baby, it's cold outside!

The Bread Bike!

The August First Bread Bike just came by!**  I was the first to hear the "fresh bread!" call, but the kids, as usual, were the first to burst out the front door.  I don't know what I love best about this, but maybe it's that you get the same thrill as running after the ice cream truck, but for something that's actually good for your body (um, Sarah and I get the jalapeño cheddar, but it's still better for us, and tastier than, a Good Humor bar).


This isn't to say that we completely forego ice cream; we're not monsters, but we prefer to walk to the Bagel Cafe and Deli for cremees.


** The information in their post might not be up-to-date for 2012.  They come through our neighborhood on Fridays.

Three possible local headlines for tomorrow

"Kurt Wright wins narrow victory; Hinda Miller admits maybe IRV wasn't such a bad thing"**


"Miro Weinberger wins narrow victory; Republicans blame IRV"


"Wanda Hines wins miracle victory; God smiles on the People's Republic"***




** Hinda Miller lost the 2006 election for mayor; even though she trailed eventual winner Bob Kiss in votes after the first round and therefore was entirely likely to have lost a traditional runoff, she blamed her loss on IRV because Republican Kevin Curley mind-controlled his supporters into casting their second-choice votes for Progressive Kiss.  I was ashamed to have had Miller on my ballot at all after that display of poor sportsmanship.


*** This is not an endorsement of Wanda Hines by myself (or God), but merely an observation that she is the candidate closest to the Progressive values that have defined the People's Republic of Burlington for the last 30 years.  The global economic meltdown has helped kill the People's Republic, and whoever we elect is going to have to cut budget to the bone.

Burlington, a sort-of bike friendly community

There's a good primer in 7days on how the north/south plan has stalled, though I have to note that:

1. Burlington's "bike friendly" designation was awarded in 2005, technically expired in 2007, and we haven't submitted another application to be reevaluated.  (I actually submitted the application in '05, with a lot of input from Local Motion and Nicole Losch's predecessor)
2. I don't see how the hill on South Winooski is any less of a killer than the one on Battery.  Battery, at least, has better pavement and I feel more confident going down the hill.  I try to avoid both when going up.
3. It would be nice if the article tried to delve deeper into the "why" the north/south plan has stalled.  Is it really simply a problem of bureaucratic red tape and lack of a champion in City Hall?  Could be, but I didn't get a good sense of that from the article.
4. I don't really like to compare cycling in Burlington to cycling in fairer weather cities like Austin, Portland (OR) or Seattle.  Cycling in winter is a tough sell (heck, I don't do it!), but we should certainly be doing at least as well as *Minneapolis* in providing decent cycling facilities. 

Assuming the city council approves the "complete streets" design on Colchester Ave, which received a lot of positive comments, here's hoping that South Winooski and North Ave go next! 

First no-dryer load of laundry of the summer

With hopefully many more to come.

Note this was actually some days ago; it rained all day today after holding off long enough yesterday to allow the neighborhood to have a (relatively) dry and sunny garage sale and potluck.

Something for the entrepreneurs to think about

Professional trash hauling with bicycles (thanks to Dana for pointing me to this).  Awesome. Burlington has private haulers, so it could probably work here, too.  Landfill Rd is less than 7 miles from downtown, and even closer to UVM.  

Oh, the delicious irony!

The Burlington Free Press reported Friday, January 22 on the potential internal conflict in the local Republican party.  Kurt Wright and Kevin Curley, both former mayoral candidates, may be jostling for position against Russ Ellis, and part of the concern is that if both run, they could split the Republican vote and Ellis would win re-election in Ward 4.  Now... if the election of City councilors used instant runoff (IRV), as in the mayoral election, Wright and Curley could both run without unduly harming each other.  They would, in fact, likely help one another because Republicans who would come out to vote for Wright but not Curley, or Curley or not Wright, would all come out to rank "their" candidate first, and then likely prefer the other Republican to Ellis.  Instead, one or the other will likely step down for the good of the party's chances to take the seat, and so instead of letting the voters of Ward 4 directly choose between Ellis, Wright, and Curley, a lack of IRV at the the City councilor level (with a generous dollop of party politics) will remove Curley or Wright, and Ward 4 will lose for not having a wider array of candidates to choose from.


The irony here, of course, is that Wright is an important voice in the effort to repeal IRV in the mayoral election. We get what we ask for: if we repeal IRV, we the voters will have *less* direct say in choosing our representatives, since the "old" system strongly discourages multiple potential candidates from the same party from running simultaneously. I, for one, will be voting to keep IRV.

Solar-Powered Microhouse

We've seen this at the Farmer's Market (which is also in City Hall Park).  It's really too bad they don't actually have someone living in the house for the duration of the exhibition.  That would make for a more convincing demonstration, though getting the permits might have been dicey.


Part of me thinks this would be a neat solution for graduate student housing, especially at places like Stanford, where the housing is really expensive.  Part of me thinks that it's one thing to have a building to live in that costs less than a small car, and quite another to have a safe and secure place to put it.

Trash on the Lawn Day

Right around the same time I was working on my reducing landfill project, the Burlington Sustainability Action Team (BSAT) was sorting through the trash at City Hall to see how much trash that currently goes into the landfill could be diverted elsewhere.  The Burlington Free Press also reported on the project, and it's rather shocking how this article manages to miss any mention of the BSAT.


I do have a beef with the 7days blog entry, which writes: "Since Burlington City Hall doesn't have a composting program, it would have been impossible for employees to have separated out their compost."  There is nothing stopping employees from bringing a compost bucket, collecting the day's compostables, and setting up a rotation for whose turn it is to take the bucket to the compost project at the end of the day.  At the very least, collect the coffee grounds and any gardeners among the employees should be happy to have them.

Reducing Landfill

Connor now has a bed for his mattress and the box spring was superfluous.  We listed it on freecycle, but got no bites.  It looked like the box spring was headed for the trash dump (we haul our trash to the city drop-off because the drop is about a mile from Finn's school, and it costs about $10-15 less per month than contracting to have it hauled.  more on that another day), and because the trash drop-off charges $0.13 per pound, I was a little grumbly at the thought of paying $4 to dispose of our box spring (I'm wild-assed guessing that the box spring weighs ~30lbs). 

But then I realized, hey, most of the weight in here is untreated wood and metal!  The metal can be dumped for free at the city drop-off in the scrap metal bin, and the untreated wood can be dumped for free at the McNeil generating plant (and I'll be driving by McNeil in order to dump off yard waste at the city compost project soon, anyways).  Woo-hee!  Well... it took almost 20 minutes to disassemble it, which means I "paid myself" roughly $12/hour to do the job.  Not exactly my going rate, but sometimes you just gotta do the "right thing".

Here it is in its component parts.  The random stuff that I had to pay to dump appeared to be <2lbs at the city drop-off:

Velomobile Envy

Last week was the Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) Bikefest in Burlington, and because it was in City Hall Park next to the farmer's market, we managed to get to the Bike Expo on Saturday and see some velomobiles up close, and they are coooool, especially the Go-One.

Unfortunately, while a velomobile might have made a lot of sense for me 10 years ago, especially while I was living in Evanston and commuting in to Chicago, it's a harder sell now that I have two kids and am telecommuting.  Most of my biking is to take Finn to school, and so what I really need is a "family" velomobile, and the multiperson velomobiles I've seen are not really ready for family use in VT.   Oh, I could probably hook up the trailer to the velomobile, but doesn't that defeat the cool factor?  :-)  And... it doesn't help when the Go-One costs $8000+.  They have a lot of great ideas for how to ameliorate that cost, but they don't really apply to our situation.

So... the kids will be out of college when I'm 57, so maybe I can look forward to settling my veloenvy then... but actually, maybe Connor would be interested in a velomobile as a car** alternative when he's 15 -- neither he nor his friends will have driver's licenses, and a velomobile will be almost as fast around town.  And maybe in 10 years the cost of a good all-weather velomobile will have come down to $2000.

** A Vespa might be another acceptable around-town car alternative.  We'll see.

Take that, Camden, NJ!

Burlington, VT was named the best place to raise a family in the U.S. by "Children's Health Magazine", thus reaffirming Sarah's research back in 2001... though one can help think that the list is suspect if Fargo is #3.  Maybe they've destroyed all the wood chippers.




My favorite part is how the Free Press says the magazine was looking for "the kind of place where a child can slip on her rubber boots, grab her colorful umbrella, and play on the quiet, tree-lined street outside her home without worry."  This is, in fact, precisely how we like to spend rainy days (colorful umbrella not pictured).

City Council Runoff

Because I live in Burlington's Ward 7, I got to vote again for City Councilor because the March 3 election was not decisive.  As I walked into the building formerly known as the Gosse Court Armory this morning with my spouse and two children (ages 2 and 5, on our way to work, day care, and school, respectively), one of the candidates asked me what I thought of IRV.  My response was that if we had IRV for all elections, I wouldn't have to be there this morning.  To further elaborate: we wouldn't have to waste the taxpayer time and money that goes into having a runoff election if we had IRV for all city elections.  IRV does not mean you get "multiple" votes, any more than a person who voted for Ellie Blais in the March 3 election gets "multiple" votes by participating in the March 24 runoff.  IRV does mean that we make the most efficient use of taxpayer time and funds by having a single election date, and to be against IRV is to be against "holding the line" on City spending.  

To candidates Vincent Dober and Eli Lesser-Goldsmith: I thank you both for running for City Council, and ask the winner to work with your fellow Councilors to get an item on next year's Town Meeting ballot so that IRV is used for all City elections.  Get it done, and you've got my vote in the next election.

Why I love IRV

The Burlington Mayoral race is determined by IRV.  Today, I received an automated call asking me to vote for a particular candidate, and if he wasn't my first choice, to please rank him second on the ballot.  The parties are starting to catch on!