Exactly. I’m a cyclist, and the bike lane is often unsafe because there are parked cars right next to it and it’s nigh impossible to tell if someone is going to open a door right in front of you. I don’t want to be in the main traffic lane, but I’ll do it if it’s safer for me, and plugging up a lane is much better than swerving into traffic to avoid colliding with a door.
If you look up Carmel Indiana, and the surrounding towns, there are many examples of raised paved multi use trails. They’re actually really nice, but the cities don’t install most of them, the cities are mostly responsible for maintenance. They’re actually installed by housing developers because the cities require it in their zoning. Unfortunately, this can result in a Swiss cheese-like network full of holes and gaps. It’s been getting better over the last couple years as some of those cities (Westfield) took on the responsibility of connecting the neighborhoods, and updated their zoning to require the new neighborhood trails to connect to existing ones.
A road network does need to be consistent. It’s not an exact analog, but it’s kind of a “weakest link” situation. It’s needlessly dangerous and frustrating for everyone to have to deal with bad infrastructure, even if it’s just one weird street that everyone still has to cross.
I have one on my way to work. I just get off my bicycle and walk because the alternative is going trough a tonne of traffic in an intersection of two highways.
We have a dedicated walking path right next to my house, and part of it runs right next to the road. It’s super nice, though the only physical barrier is either a bit of gravel, but it’s way better than what we used to have.
The gravel is plenty, it’s an intuitive border between where the cars are supposed and not supposed to go. Even sleepy drivers will stay off of the walking path that way.
There’s much better options, but it’s good to have something
:::
Exactly. I’m a cyclist, and the bike lane is often unsafe because there are parked cars right next to it and it’s nigh impossible to tell if someone is going to open a door right in front of you. I don’t want to be in the main traffic lane, but I’ll do it if it’s safer for me, and plugging up a lane is much better than swerving into traffic to avoid colliding with a door.
I’ve recently been seeing news of some American neighborhoods actually getting bike lanes though. As in: a second “mini road” next to the main road.
Let’s hope further progress can be made!
If you look up Carmel Indiana, and the surrounding towns, there are many examples of raised paved multi use trails. They’re actually really nice, but the cities don’t install most of them, the cities are mostly responsible for maintenance. They’re actually installed by housing developers because the cities require it in their zoning. Unfortunately, this can result in a Swiss cheese-like network full of holes and gaps. It’s been getting better over the last couple years as some of those cities (Westfield) took on the responsibility of connecting the neighborhoods, and updated their zoning to require the new neighborhood trails to connect to existing ones.
A road network does need to be consistent. It’s not an exact analog, but it’s kind of a “weakest link” situation. It’s needlessly dangerous and frustrating for everyone to have to deal with bad infrastructure, even if it’s just one weird street that everyone still has to cross.
I have one on my way to work. I just get off my bicycle and walk because the alternative is going trough a tonne of traffic in an intersection of two highways.
We have a dedicated walking path right next to my house, and part of it runs right next to the road. It’s super nice, though the only physical barrier is either a bit of gravel, but it’s way better than what we used to have.
The gravel is plenty, it’s an intuitive border between where the cars are supposed and not supposed to go. Even sleepy drivers will stay off of the walking path that way.
There’s much better options, but it’s good to have something :::
Yeah, it’s way better than the bike lane with cars parked in it or a sidewalk. I’ll take what I can get.