Cycle paths adjacent to main roads

[Ming the Merciless]

Pottyboro has/had a similar approach but the network is more broken up

I have used that a couple of times this year. Surface is rough as fark and signage poor to none existant. At least signage for railway station sadly lacking. Then you have the national cycle route that takes you through a pedestrian zone, no cycling 9am to 6pm!

 

[blackrat]

Maybe when cycling it would be as well to assume you have been called up to fight in a war and your job is to negotiate a minefield - with the expectation you may or not make it to the far side, and if you do, and you sigh with great relief but then you are dismayed when the platoon sergeant calls out you have to make it back.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The more I read about Britain these days and how poorly run everything is and recognising it will never improve, I do think it is time for Britain to be abandoned as being of little to no use.

You think it is bad, look at state of USA cycle infrastructure.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

One of the problems in many areas is that they try to treat cyclists as pedestrians+

So when you get to a road joining - then you are expected to stop, get off and check for traffic - then walk acros and get on again
OK - not alwasy get off - because who would - but I have seen several places were there is actually a sign saying "cyclists dismount"

Just down the road from here there is a shared path - joint cycle path, pavement

then there is a zebra crossing
Just before it is a "No cycling" sign - and after it a "shared path" sign

so you are expected to get off your bike
walk a few yards
then get back on again

Crazy

evidence

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Just seen this

WHo had right of way??

 

[blackrat]

You think it is bad, look at state of USA cycle infrastructure.

It is not possible to look at something that does not exist.

 

[HLaB]

How do they fit a cycle path into an existing street that doesn't have room for one?

The Council have got quite a good record there.

Became

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ztXYBdAsWoYV12dZ9

 

[HLaB]

I have used that a couple of times this year. Surface is rough as fark and signage poor to none existant. At least signage for railway station sadly lacking. Then you have the national cycle route that takes you through a pedestrian zone, no cycling 9am to 6pm!

Yip that about sums it up. I commute through the pedestrians only Bridge Street mostly either side of the 9am-6pm ban. Somedays, I'm back just before 6pm however and I get off and walk but a lot of folk dont and some probably can't. It just punishes the old and slow :-/

 

[Pat "5mph"]

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

Yes, plenty of them.
Most are a dog's dinner, the better ones are full of dog walkers and now Deliveroo riders too.
I use them because I'm slow, also I would like to stay alive.
Sometimes you get shouted at by pedestrians, they tell you to ride on the road.
If you ride on the road, drivers will shout to get on the cycle path.

But you will never change motorists views.

I agree on this.

I just cycle along the tow path and thankfully it goes all the way upto Glasgow.

I rode Glasgow to Embra along the canal twice, the opposite way once.
I don't like the route, it's nice to look at the scenery but the actual riding is slow, sometimes dangerous (slimy cobbles under bridges, aqueducts), pedestrians and dog walkers don't like us cycling there.

either provide an ASL for cyclists to join and wait in

There's a good chance that a car will already be in it!

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.

Oh, I rode this, never knew of this disgusting habit!

Maybe when cycling it would be as well to assume you have been called up to fight in a war and your job is to negotiate a minefield - with the expectation you may or not make it to the far side, and if you do, and you sigh with great relief but then you are dismayed when the platoon sergeant calls out you have to make it back.

Yes indeed.
Before I set out on my commute, I give myself a wee prep talk: "you can do this, you can do this"
It has worked for 15 years

 

[PaulSB]

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".

A very accurate description of why we rarely use cycle paths on road rides other than alongside busy A roads. I'd guess on mileage basis at least 95% of all urban cycle paths are a complete waste of money and not worth using.

Converted railway lines and the like don't count. These are usually great rides. What is important is cycle paths which offer a real alternative to road riding. These simply don't exist. If I want to ride at 15 - 20mph, our usual pace range, the only place it's possible is on a road.

 

[Alex321]

Just seen this

WHo had right of way??

Nobody, as there is no such thing in the UK.

The cyclists have priority, but that is not the same thing as "right of way".

 

[steveindenmark]

s

Wilkinson & Pickett already have.

How do they fit a cycle path into an existing street that doesn't have room for one?

We need policies to deter driving, not policies to encourage cycling:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/sep/19/britains-1960s-cycling-revolution-flopped-stevenage

Tissington Trail, High Peak Trail, Monsal Trail, Manifold Way.

I did them on foot, then again after I switched to cycle touring.

How do they fit a bike path into a street where there is not room?

There are lots of variables. If its that small, they probably don't. They would work round it.

But if they are building new roads, industrial or housing estates. The cycle path is one of the first things to be put in.

Out in the countryside they are often aquiring the first few metres of farmers fields to turn into cycle tracks.

 

[katiewlx]

I totally agree.

There is far more to it than just putting good paths in the right places. But its a good place to start.

The thing with Denmark is that from the guy drawing up the plans to the guy laying the tarmac. They are all linked to cycling. They cycle or someone in the family cycles, a mate cycles. There are more bikes than cars. We do not have this car v bike mentality. Probably because we spend a lot of time away from the traffic. But not on some second rate cycle path. I would far rather be on a cycle path than a road. Its a no brainer.

I remember speaking to one of our local council leads in the cycling infra department, who'd been sent on a fact finding mission to Holland to learn all about Dutch cycle lanes, and this was in the era when Active Travel England appeared to be doing things properly. The thing they learnt from this, so they told me, was you could construct piecemeal bursts of cycling infra, only where it fitted and didnt disturb motorists space on the road, and cyclists would just automatically link up a route with all the bits in between, so you didnt need to build a route or a transport network for cycling on, just had to concentrate on small bits, make them abit nicer, and people would work out the rest.

I think I was too dumbfounded to respond to her.

I dont think the UK is ever going to get cycle lanes/paths to the level you have in Denmark, or the Dutch have, the car has just become ingrained as the only mode of transport now and its only getting worse.

As we are building lots of brand new housing estates and yet theyre completely isolated in terms of a network of paths or cycle routes, or even bus routes to join up with the neighbouring areas. Like even in the brochure for the new houses it mentions how close you are to local supermarkets, local shops, local amenities and so on, but I guarantee everyone who lives in those new houses will drive, even if the journey is less than 2miles, and theyll complain bitterly about how much traffic there is on the roads and how long it takes to drive anywhere, and yet theres really no over option being provided for them, and there wont be anything retrofitted for another 20 years.

 

[Wobblers]

British cycling infrastructure;

View attachment 801112

That is why the roads tend to be the lesser of two evils here in Blighty.

I don't believe this UK cycle path is real: there's no BMW parked over it! Nor have the council put some bollards, street lamps or traffic signs in the middle of it. And shouldn't there be a few tree roots and at least a couple of dog turds decorating it?