Von Karman is getting a great repavement job currently and the new asphalt is smooth - but there are still some areas being worked on. Watch out for steel plates. The edges are not always properly ramped to get onto them so the hard steel edge can give you a pinch flat, a bit of traffic film, sand or morning dew can make them slick, as a member found when she slipped and crashed on one a while back, and if they are in place a while, heavy vehicle traffic can make them shift, especially at a corner. Once placed, they are usually packed in with some ‘cold patch’ asphalt to hold them in place, but if left for a long time with heavy traffic, or not packed in well they will shift. Last Saturday a gap was noticed on SB Von Karman @ Campus, right in the middle of the #2 lane where cyclists would ride. Circled back and staged how bad a bicycle would fall into the gap, the situation was called in to Irvine PD who would send out an officer to verify, then call out the Public Works - Streets employee on call to cone off the #2 lane until the steel plates can be repositioned.
If you see something - say something. IPD Dispatch is (949) 724-7206 and they have city staff on-call to address problems on weekends if you report them.
No one was injured in the staging of this bike…
If you cc an email to OCBC they will also follow up with the right people to get it fixed ASAP.
infrastructure@ocbike.org
