I drove down Blaisdell last week and I think it would actually be better with the parking switched to the other side. Not only would the parked cars provide protection for the bike lane but the parking lane becomes the driving lane at some intersections so why not keep the driving lane on the left for the entire length?
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.9379416 ... 384!8i8192
I also noticed the unusually wide space between the sidewalk and curb. Seems to me this area should hold a lot more snow than the typical boulevard. Shouldn't this make it easier to keep the road clear without having to narrow it for snow storage?
I live on Blaisdell in this stretch, and I don't think that moving the parking would work well.
- The current layout is already confusing to a lot of drivers that aren't from the area. Moving the parking to what is visually "the middle of the road" would only confuse people more.
- Parking next to the bike lane would decrease the visibility of people on bikes.
- The movement of the forward driving lane back and forth at a few of the busier intersections is purposeful. It helps slow down traffic, like a chicane.
- Transitioning from left side parking to middle/right side parking at 32nd would be messy. You couldn't do it north of there.
- Blaisdell has been single side parking on the left for many years now. Changing it would likely only upset neighbors even more.
As far as boulevards go, I think the shrinking road width is more related to how close the plows get to the curb than the width of the snow holding space available. On Blaisdell, we ended up with a mid-street snow berm on the curb protecting the bike lane in addition to the ones on the side of the street. Other than the fact that I had to shovel a walkway through that, it was nice because it helped to keep the cars out of the bike lane.
We did have some road narrowing like everyone else this winter, but the driving lane stayed wide enough because it has extra width for "curb reaction distance" off of the bike lane buffer which grand does not have.