[SDCBC] Del Mar Blvd/Jimmy Durante Merge.

[trevorspoke at cox.net]

Sorry, seems the memory's dropped a few bits since I last rode the route. I checked it out on Google Street View to refresh my uncertain recollections.

The right lane doesn't end, only the bike lane does. This is called a union, not a merge. Except in this case the bike lane just disappears and the right lane takes its place. This is a traffic engineering debacle, it's like intentionally trying to get a bike run over by a car.

Proper signage for the existing situation:
1. On the left: "Bike lane ends, merge left" before the union, which will tell cyclists what they should do. 
2. On the right: "Watch for merging traffic" before the union, which will protect against what many will try to do anyway
On both signs, the yellow warning sign of the union.
Note that to perform a merge you are required by CA law to signal intent for 100ft before performing a lane change. This is impossible to perform at the location of the union.

Proper traffic engineering total solution:
Extend the union point by at least 100ft by providing a bike lane between the two lanes. This would likely squeeze the space provided for the bike lane to the right, so cyclists riding up Jimmy Durante ramp southbound would have to share the lane.

Creative "bicycle-friendly" suggestion: traffic sensor in the bike lane triggers a stop light for the right lane, because you can easily see by geometric extension of the bike lane the right lane was stolen from its right of way.

Likely actual solution: a pedestrian crosswalk painted for timid cyclists by ignorant engineers, with a friendly "walk your bike" sign and maybe even a pushbutton. Fortunately it wouldn't be legal to force users of the bike lane to use the crosswalk, so cyclists can still do the proper thing by merging left.

-- Trevor