(Sign images are adapted from the Manual of Traffic Signs, by Richard C. Moeur)
This past weekend when I went through Knoxville's Third Creek and Neyland Greenways, I noticed that the Neyland Greenway had its old "cross traffic does not stop" signs replaced with the much more straightforward yield signs. Portions of Neyland Greenway runs parallel to Neyland Drive, and turning traffic from Neyland Drive will cross the greenway. As previously mentioned, parallel paths to roads have a problem with intersections, in that turning traffic has a conflict with path traffic. The yield signs remind greenway users to the fact that at every such intersection they are to yield to any turning traffic for their safety. Fortunately, the number of intersections is not large, so the number of yields is manageable.
At the Third Creek Greenway. there is a partial detour due to a KUB (Knoxville Utilities Board) project. There, I saw the new combo Bike/Ped sign with a "Share the Road" supplemental for the first time when the greenway was detoured onto sparsely used service roads of the University.
Yield signs are a great improvement over stop signs in such situations. The Little Miami Rail trail in Ohio was a real pain to ride for the first few years due to stop signs every few yards, mostly for private drives. On my last visit 2 years ago, those had all gone. Even more impressive was the behavior of motorists at the few remaining stop signs for real roads. Almost universally, autos would stop when they saw bikers stopped and allow us to cross. May the evolution of these greenways be so blessed.
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