Cycle paths adjacent to main roads

[matticus]

There is no fanfare when they build another section of cycle path. I often turn up in places where another 10km of cycle path has been added and I had no idea it was being built.

They will add a section of cycle path in a place where nobody rides and you think it is odd. Then quite quickly, cyclists and pedestrians start using it. Its like watching Sym City.

That's a great description! ❤️

 

[PaulSB]

@steveindenmark I'm interested to know if you can compare riding on highway with using a cycle path.

I ride road and gravel, two very different styles and disciplines each with an appropriate etiquette. My preference is gravel.

When road riding I would typically be in a group of three to six. We would be paired up much of the time, singling out if appropriate, riding at 17 - 18mph, perhaps 20 - 21 in places. On a weekend ride the group might be 10 - 12.

Does this happen/would it work in Denmark? My limited experience of cycle paths says no but I am basing this on UK infrastructure and a little on French paths.

As a "roadie" would I have to change my whole approach and riding style to blend into Danish cycling culture?

 

[All uphill]

My view is that little will change in the UK until there is a critical mass of cyclists, as others have said.

When every short car journey involves safely sharing the road with at least one cyclist my perception is that driver behaviours change.
A cyclist is no longer a bloody annoying unexpected obstacle, but just another feature of every trip to Tesco for milk in the two ton monstrosity.

There are lots of things we can do to encourage more people to get out on a bike, let's get out and do them.

 

[wiggydiggy]

We had a VERY expensive cycle path built out of town last year (or the year before, time flies) but sadly it doesn't go very far. Basically they turned a narrow footpath into a multiuser path which no one in town thought anyone would use. Well, I have twice now, both times to cycle to the beach further up the coastline from ours. In fact, this morning I cycled up there to have my first morning cuppa to watch the sunrise. It was lovely. But this cycle path, whilst protecting cyclists from an extremely busy road which is the only road into/out of our town, sadly stops unceremoniously not much further along than the beach turn off, making the main road more of a death trap for cyclists.

Do you have cycle/multiuser paths near you and do you use them?

The UK tries hard but gets so many simple things wrong.

If I want to turn right there is no provision for that - I would be crossing a flow of traffic going straight on through the box junction. So if I want to turn right I rejoin the road.

The solution for right turning cyclists could have been to either provide an ASL for cyclists to join and wait in, or to give priority to the bicycle lights.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

One of the problems with shared paths
and any cycle path CAN be shared because there are not rules stopping walker/jogger/runners from using them - is that is makes any drivers think that cyclist should be on it

Because they are not aware of the "recommendation" that cyclists doing over a certain speed should not be using them
Even then - some say the limit is 18 mph - but passing pedestrians - possibly including kids - at that sort of speed is way past reckless to me!

And, of course, they are often not maintained to the same standard as the roads - and anyway cars/lorries tend to blow stuff away and it ends up on the cycle path
and then cycling on it can get to be a recipe for problems
which again car drivers (etc) don;t notice

 

[Solocle]

This footway (adjacent to the A3 between Guildford and the M25). is a narrow shared-use path, is unguarded from 3 lanes of adjacent motorway traffic, and has all manner of tree roots pushing up the surface. Noisy & fume-filled too, but it serves a purpose of getting out of the north east side of Guildford, and after a couple of miles it heads into a village where smaller quieter roads can be picked up.

On the A3 the other side of Guildford, a pollution threshold was exceeded. I've seen speed limits lowered in other countries to address that issue, here they decided on another option - close the path! So much for active travel.

View attachment 801096

Similar with the A2, although I should point out that in both cases, it is not a motorway and it is entirely legal to cycle on the carriageway.

Bonus, no cycle path on this stretch:

The A282 has better separation:

But, to complete the set, here are a couple of bona fide motorway cycle tracks:

 

[raleighnut]

Your comments are true of *some* cyclepaths.

In some areas of the country, it is simply not true at all, and I am lucky enough to live and work in the parts of South Wales where it is not the case.

There are still some cyle paths round here I wouoldn't use just because of the side roads issue. But most of them I do use if I am going that way.

I'm also in an area (Vale of Glamorgan and surrounding counties) where there are a LOT of cyclists, so motorists are expecting us, and are generally polite and well behaved. The sorts of incidents many on here see pretty well every day, I only see a few times a year.

There are some cyclepaths I use, mainly disused railway lines that have been converted, the Tissington trail, Cloud trail. and Great Central way are 3 I have used extensively. OK in the week they can be bad at weekends/school holidays with walkers meandering all over the place often taking up the entire width by walking abreast of each other.....................Oh and don't mention dogs on retractable leashes

 

[Animo]

On the path over the Pass of Drumochter that runs alongside the A9 the main hazard tends to be dodging the plastic bottles full of piss that the HGV drivers throw out of their wagons.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Big dual carrigeways are a problem in themselves
Runcorn seems to have had a road network designed to make people go round it as fast as possible and avoid teh actual place
It is basically encircled by "almost motorways" with another through the middle - almost

but they are wide dual carriageways with a "hard shoulder" type thing at the side
but there is no indication what the "hard shoulder" is for

If you follow signs then you get delivered onto these roads - and it kinda looks like a cycle path
but if you go on it the levels of traffic - including a lot of lorries - is horrendous if you are on a bike
but there are no signs saying bikes should not be on it - until you get to the Mersey Gateway bridge

Technically you could ride a bike down the inside lane at 10 mph
but it would basically be suicide

Which points to another problem
cycle paths - including off orad things like canal paths - are not signposted from a distance
so a cycle path might exist
but finding it can be difficult even if you know it is there!

 

[All uphill]

The UK tries hard

Really? Not in Somerset, they don't.

No ambition here.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

the people who design then do not seem to think like a cyclist

Local town to me (where I shop so notice the cycle lanes) the design is mainly shared use but with a major issue that cycle "paths" are frequently joining and leaving the road. Plus if on a cycle path you have to cross any joining roads (where you have to stop and wait for any cars) whereas if cycling on the larger road you just keep going on the road no joining, leaving, crossing, etc.

When I cycle to/through that particular town I just ride on the road and ignore the cycle "infrastructure".

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Really? Not in Somerset, they don't.

No ambition here.

very dependant of the Local Authority

Halton - tries hard - not always fully successful

Liverpool - "What are bicycles?"

 

[travellingwest]

There are some cyclepaths I use, mainly disused railway lines that have been converted, the Tissington trail, Cloud trail. and Great Central way are 3 I have used extensively. OK in the week they can be bad at weekends/school holidays with walkers meandering all over the place often taking up the entire width by walking abreast of each other.....................Oh and don't mention dogs on retractable leashes

The Tissington trail is fabulous. I cycled that with a child trailer behind me when my little one was actually little and yes, I did it in the week. i think the last time I cycled it must be 25 years ago, if not 30 as the little one is now 32. Gosh...
I live in a high tourist area where people walk 5 abreast down the high street, along the sea front and it drives me nuts, so I feel your pain intensely.

 

[Alex321]

The UK tries hard but gets so many simple things wrong.

If I want to turn right there is no provision for that - I would be crossing a flow of traffic going straight on through the box junction. So if I want to turn right I rejoin the road.

The solution for right turning cyclists could have been to either provide an ASL for cyclists to join and wait in, or to give priority to the bicycle lights.



View attachment 801125

There is a similar junction to that in Cardiff that I used to ride regularly before I changed the route I use, but at that one, there is a button to press a couple of yards before the lighhts, and if you do that, then the cycle lights turn green long enough before the main lights od that you have chance to turn right.

 

[steveindenmark]

@steveindenmark I'm interested to know if you can compare riding on highway with using a cycle path.

I ride road and gravel, two very different styles and disciplines each with an appropriate etiquette. My preference is gravel.

When road riding I would typically be in a group of three to six. We would be paired up much of the time, singling out if appropriate, riding at 17 - 18mph, perhaps 20 - 21 in places. On a weekend ride the group might be 10 - 12.

Does this happen/would it work in Denmark? My limited experience of cycle paths says no but I am basing this on UK infrastructure and a little on French paths.

As a "roadie" would I have to change my whole approach and riding style to blend into Danish cycling culture?

I can only assume it does as we have loads of cycling clubs in Denmark. We make TDF winners here😃 I do not know the rules for group riding in Denmark.