Do protected bike-lanes really kill fire access?

Although both cities sit at the shore of a famous bay, Baltimore and San Francisco rarely take their hints from each other, too much they play in different leagues. But since early last year a drama is playing out for which Baltimore copied its playbook entirely from the Golden Gate City with just a couple of months of lag-time. I am talking about a drama that seems to have taken on momentum across North America in a typical case of old school thinking binary versus a dynamic multi-polar view of safety. The old school approach goes like this "Either you are either for bike safety or you are for fire-safety", the dynamic view sees the multiple connections between fire department service and road safety. The players are fire departments, municipal departments of transportation, bike activists, unions and code officials. The issue is whether protected bike lanes and the resulting narrower road lanes safe lives of bicyclists but endanger residents because fire equipment can't get to them or can't fight fire from those narrow lanes.

A San Francisco official describes the old school dilemma this way:

“No one wants to be the person that made a change that made it hard for the Fire Department to respond to a situation. [then talking about protected bike lanes] "No one wants to be the person that didn’t make a change that could save a life.”

In San Francisco fire apparatus was moved into position against bike lanes in March 2017:  San Francisco fire officials block critical safety upgrades on city streets.

On Upper Market, the SFMTA [San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) Board was set to consider and approve parking-protected bike lanes between Octavia and Duboce on March 7. But SFMTA staff yanked the proposals at the last minute from the agenda of a City Hall engineering hearing — the final step before board approval — because of delayed feedback from the Fire Department.
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, alarmed over that action, sent a letter last week demanding that SFMTA Director Ed Reiskin put them back on the table.

Baltimore followed in May with a battle about bikelanes on Potomac Street. in which local residents may well have taken the San Francisco case to make an argument against the protected bike lane proposed on their street. Advocates mobilized, the Mayor threatened to yank the bike facility until the matter almost wound up in court. Potomac Street ended in a compromise where bicyclists lost the bikelane protection in part of the corridor and the fire department agreed to give up 1' from the required lane width of 20', which is easy because the lane is open towards the sidewalk allowing expansion of operations there. In spite of this victory of reason in Baltimore, the bike versus fire truck battles continue here and in San Francisco. with the fire department effectively holding up the bike masterplan implementation. In both cities a number of critical bike network improvements are put on ice presumambly to work "fire lane" width issues out.
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition  lost an appeal during last summer.  In December 2017 they staged a demonstration in which yellow vested protesters created the barrier between drive lanes and bike-lanes that parked vehicles are supposed to form if the plan would be implemented:

The Board of Supervisors also rejected an appeal of the project in July. Installation of initial improvements was set for earlier this year, but that has yet to happen.
"No action has been taken," San Francisco Bicycle Coalition executive director Brian Wiedenmeier said Monday evening. "I think these folks are out here calling for more urgency and for city leaders to work on whatever obstacles remain."

In Baltimore similar headlines popped up early February of this year: "Baltimore Bike lane construction delayed again amid fire code concerns".

The delay infuriated Bikemore, the city’s bicycling advocacy group, which called the city’s request for a time extension a “total failure in leadership” on the part of city officials. (Baltimore SUN)

Protest in San Francisco about missing bike lane separation

At the root of the conflict are city ordinances which in Baltimore are based on an adaptation of the  International Fire Prevention Code (IFC) and in San Francisco on the California Fire Code, both codes call for unobstructed 20' fire access lanes which which is generally interpreted to include public streets. In fact, the IFC in Appendix D requires even 26' wide access roads where hydrants are located and allows the "fire code official" to modify the provisions for one way streets and other circumstances.

Fire codes have for a long influenced the shape of how we build subdivisions with super wide roads and extremely large cul de sac turn-arounds.  Andres Duany and the New Urbanists went to bat with code officials in favor of road diets and a less car centric more traditional neighborhood design with nationwide success. It is quite ironic that these codes demanding roads that are too wide even for a decent suburb are now used to block Complete Streets and multi-modal accommodations in historic cities.

San Francisco protected one way bike lane (SFMTrA)

Many urban streets never provided those 20' clear fire-lanes, the lack of width owed to historically narrow streets or with parking, nothing to do with bicycle lanes. Narrow streets just barely wide enough for the trash truck can be found all over Baltimore. The recently introduced angled parking, especially in Canton, made even more streets narrower than 20'. As Bikemore Policy Director Jed Weeks points out, even newly constructed roadways at Preston Gardens are designed with lanes that are not 20' wide. But its the bike lanes which have attracted the fire department's attention.

“If it’s a genuine problem to have streets narrower than 26 feet, then the fact that they haven’t insisted on keeping all streets clear is negligent, which seems to me that they’re making it a bigger safety problem than it appears to be” (SF bike activist)

Bicycle advocates make the same argument in San Francisco and in Baltimore, combined with reasoning aboput the character of emergency responses as such:  The vast majority of emergency calls to the fire department pertain to traffic crashes and medical emergencies and not fires. Safer streets would address those emergencies more effectively than wider fire lanes.

“This resistance is confusing. Shouldn’t our first responders put as much emphasis on preventing crashes as they do on preventing fires?” (SF bike activist)

If less than 20 feet of clearance is truly a safety threat, the city should be applying the code to all projects, not just those with bike lanes. hey’re not applying this interpretation of the fire code equitably for streets across the city, If it is, in fact, a safety issue, it is a safety issue on all streets.” Bikemore executive director Liz Cornish 

Vision Zero Firetruck, in San Francisc:  a bit smaller and more nimble

In San Francisco the fire department doesn't want to appear like a bully. The department recently bought five new "vision zero"fire trucks which are a bit shorter and narrower to better navigate tight streets. Reportedly it is in negotiations about new ladder trucks with outriggers that can be reduced from 16' to 14'. To which one reader wrote in the comment section:

"Yes! 95% of the calls that currently have gigantic fire trucks blaring down residential streets could be handled by a paramedic on a scooter." (SF commenter on bike lane battle)

In Baltimore it is less clear how the conflict with the fire department can be overcome. Jed Weeks thinks that it is time for a mayoral decision as the chief arbiter between DOT and the fire department.  As Weeks points out, most cities in the US have come to the conclusion that lanes of 12-14' wide can serve fire apparatus well and proceeded with protected bike lanes on that base. The national organization NACTO has published detailed design standards that are used all across the country. Bikemore has given the city white papers and connected the traffic engineers with teh NACTO advisory board, yet the matter keeps festering. Affected by the delays at this point are mostly the east-west bike network pair of Madiosn and Monument Streets and a segment of Centre Street.

“It’s disappointing to us that this project, which has already been subject to one extension, is already a year behind, and is now potentially behind for another year because of the fire clearance issue,” Jed Weeks, policy director for local cycling nonprofit Bikemore. 

On these delayed bike routes the fire officials have not signaled agreement yet, not here and not in SF. Which is regrettable, because the 20' lane width is mostly a red herring. A firetruck is about 8'-6" wide and even with those ladder truck outriggers fully extended, they are no wider than 17'-9". Fighting a house fire requires the ladder or bucket to be extended to only one side, reducing the required width to 12-6". Furthermore, low rowhouses may not need a full extension of the ladder or boom and therefore also not a fully extended support outrigger. Besides, those support arms can easily be extended between parked cars as well. Some ladder trucks are short jacked.

fire truck outriggers can reach between parked cars

In short, the absolute mandate of fire safety first which seems to make so much sense, dwindles if one looks at the actual conditions and details of fire fighting. The bikelane can, in fact, be useful as a space to run hoses from the nearest hydrant or to move responders to and from an emergency.

The many ways to adapt to urban conditions is precisely why the issue of narrow streets has never come up as a Baltimore or San Francisco life safety issue until streets were narrowed for bikeways. Meanwhile deadly bicycle and pedestrian crashes are an all too frequent occurrence.

Nationally, traffic fatalities outnumber fire-related fatalities 5:1. Traffic injuries outnumber fire related injuries 167:1  Baltimore City experiences an average of 20,000 crashes involving motor vehicles, pedestrians,and bicyclists each year. 45 of those crashes result in the death of a motorist, and 60% of those crashes result in serious injuries. 12 of those crashes annually result in the death of a pedestrian, and 78% of crashes result in serious injuries to the pedestrian. Baltimore City has the highest number of pedestrian-involved crashes in the state. (Bikemore white paper).

It is time that not only common sense prevails but that the antagonistic binary thinking of false either-or conflicts get buried for good. A livable city is too complicated and complex for resolving problems in a one dimensional manner.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Baltimore Bike lane construction delayed again. Baltimore Sun
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