Re: New Bike Path

On 7/15/2024 11:57 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:

Rolf Mantel <news@hartig-mantel.de> wrote:

 Basically, in town there is no way to build a safe bidirectional cycleway.
>

I think there are rare exceptions, and I think "safe" is not a binary condition. But I certainly think most introduce serious hazards not present in normal roads.

Absolutely there is, plenty in london that work well, but they don’t cross
drive in sort of places but certainly in London the two tend to be in very
different locations!...
Town Bidirectional cycleway.
 https://maps.app.goo.gl/8DeJ2xi7ZP2cbXsG9?g_st=ic
 Some junctions are light controlled others don’t warrant it, it seems to
work well, I only use it occasionally and often like I will on Sunday for a
Cheese market being Chiswick.

Adding special traffic lights just for bikes, as in your photo, can help, but at a penalty of extra delays for both bikes and cars. I rode bike lanes with extra bike traffic lights in Stockholm, for example, and sometimes waited at our "special" red light while parallel cars had a green. I saw other cyclists who seemed more familiar with the area ignoring the red.
And if there are very many driveways, the hazard we're discussing exists at each one. Turning your photo around shows this:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/AxRNjBuU3RadBnUM8 followed by several other junctions with streets or lots that would have been potential problems.
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- Frank Krygowski