Missing diamonds, and a "death tunnel"?

Roadguy received the following thoughts this morning from alert reader wiz2jay, who has tried out the redo of Hennepin and First Avenues:

After getting several chances to ride the new two-way conversions, I have two comments:

-No sane cyclist would ride between parked cars and a curb. It's a death tunnel.

-The right bike/bus/right turn lane is a great idea. However, if a lane is designated on signage as a "diamond" lane, please mark the lane with DIAMONDS!

Roadguy is pretty sure Hennepin's diamonds are still on the way -- our freezing October has been bad news for anyone planning to apply road paint.

I took the photo above last week on 1st Avenue, which has the unusual configuration wiz2jay was referring to. In this shot, the middle car is legally parked; the car driving near the curb is illegally using the bike lane, and the car in the right of the photo was one of many that didn't immediately figure out that the middle car wasn't going anywhere, then had to veer around.

Parking enforcement is being stepped up this week, according to a news release that's so fresh I can't even link to it yet. The short version: city staffers will be out giving parking advice on 1st Ave. as rush hour approaches, and beware of tow trucks.