Serious Side of Riding the Southern Tier

Following are excerpts of correspondence between Bill, AZ Department of Transportation and Adventure Cycling Association. I post them here for potential riders of this route. Be aware and Beware!



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Menrath, William (menratwg)
Date: Thursday, April 28, 2011
Subject: Re: Site Feedback or Question
To: "Msanders@azdot.gov"
Cc: Casey Greene , "Jennifer H. Milyko" , "coachkmart@gmail.com"


Dear Mr. Sanders,
I am a bicyclist who was riding from San Diego, CA to Florida. While riding on US 60 west of Globe, AZ I fell victim to what I assume was road rage. A pickup truck driver purposely caused me to crash on the highway. The most serious of my injuries was to my right humorous which suffered four breaks. I recently had reconstructive surgery and face a long recovery time.

The root cause of the problem was not the driver but US 60 itself. That section of highway is inherently unsafe for bicyclists. It has a 12 mile long, 6% downgrade and there are many sections of the road with no paved berm which forces cyclists to share the lane with 18-wheelers and other vehicles going at high speeds. In some places the paved berm is three feet wide but the center 16 or 18 inches of the berm is taken up by a deep rumble strip which pretty much makes it useless for cyclists.

I had been complaining to the Adventure Cycling Association because I was following their route. They suggested that I express my concern to you and that is the purpose of this email. My co-cyclists, David and Karen Martin might also express their opinion of the road.

Thanks for your consideration.

Bill Menrath

________________________________________
From: Jennifer H. Milyko [jhmilyko@adventurecycling.org]
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 12:19 PM
To: coachkmart@gmail.com; Menrath, William (menratwg)
Cc: Casey Greene
Subject: FW: Site Feedback or Question

Hi Bill and Karen,

In further discussing your experience on the Southern Tier with my
colleagues in the office, I was reminded that we have been in conversation
with the Arizona Department of Transportation about improving the conditions
on US 60 from east of Apache Junction to Globe.

It would be helpful to us - and cyclists on this route in the future - if
you would contact Michael Sanders who is the Bicycle and Pedestrian
Coordinator for Arizona and relate your experience. The more they hear from
cyclists directly, the stronger the argument for improvements. Michael's
contact information follows:

phone: 607-712-8141
Msanders@azdot.gov
Jennifer H. Milyko
Cartographers
800/755-2453 x205
150 E. Pine St., Missoula MT 59802
To: "cgreene@adventurecycling.org"
Subject: RE: Site Feedback or Question
Hi Casey,
You can add one more to your list of 60 complaints about the southern tier route. I'm Karen's buddy who was knocked over by the irate truck driver and suffered significant injuries. Right now I'm recovering from surgery that reconstructed my humorous. Like Karen I'm an experienced cyclist and have toured in the US, Europe, Central America and Asia. There are several sections of the route between San Diego and Globe, AZ that are extremely dangerous with conditions I would not have expected on a professionally designed route. I am sorry now that we didn't design our own route. The least Adventure Cycling should do is include a warning that some sections of the route are extremely hazardous.