Will we ever have national motorways for bicycles?

[wiggydiggy]

Thats part of a Sustrans plan in progress as a guide, they are talking of NCN66 connecting Manc to Hull but use some of their other routes and its already done.

Sowerby Bridge > Wakefield needs improving and I haven't ridden Leeds>Selby to know its quality but as a national network off roads this almost works for this area.

The only issue with the way they are building it is that a lot uses canals, and as I know canals are wonderful for a cycle ride but as a decent alternative to roads (ie fast A>B) they are not suitable.

Far better is their (Sustrans) work with old railway routes. TBH and this is despite my love of railways I'd like to see all old routes converted to shared use greenways, split the trackbed 50/50 with a fast and a slow side and we'd have a decent network of non road routes that all can use.

 

[Crankarm]

OP's idea is the stuff of cloud cuckoo land. Motorway. The clue is in the name, for motors. We just need a dedicated seperate cylce network similar to the Dutch model.

 

[Stonepark]

Peak oil or Excessive fuel prices or rationing or war in ME or currency war or stock market crash or banks blow up = thousands of miles of cycleway suddenly becoming available as suddenly motor car usage declines to 3rd world rates.

 

[subaqua]

I love the idea, Just get a big truck of tarmac, dump it in a straight line over some fields followed by a roller truck followed by a line painty machine. Job done. £2.50

it works in a similar way for TfL

 

[davefb]

Well look at Manchester and Salford, for instance. Great big river bisecting the two, completely ignored by everyone. Nothing happening on it, anywhere.

There's no reason why an embankment couldn't be built down one side, enabling people to walk or cycle from the north to the southwest of the cities, free of roads. And if you follow the Irwell valley to the northwest, to Clifton and Bolton, it's gorgeous up there - I know, I've cycled it on hundreds of occasions. Miles and miles of pathways, flowers, wildlife, you name it. There's a disused railway from Clifton that goes straight into Radcliffe, and from Radcliffe you can get on the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal straight into Bury.

The dots just need connecting and the cost is negligible compared to other large scale projects, like building a ring road.

There's also the Rochdale, Ashton and Bridgewater Canals - all could be linked and with good planning, in a way that meant no interference from cars, lorries, etc. Let's face it, you won't find any roads that require motorists to stop, get out and push their cars for a few yards, but that's what's expected of everyone else...

oh indeed.

its just annoying that the current bits are really only suitable at the moment for 'a nice ride'..

whats really annoying is what they have to do to stop motorbikes riding on a lot of the paths, the area round agecroft they've made a really nice park for walking/cycling etc, but when commuting down it , it seems like a cyclocross track having to unclip / step off lift bike every 5 yrds... ( not really, but feels like it )..

I once rode all the way from bolton to salford , but the canal side isnt' that great at some points and some parts get a bit muddy...
once you're in salford though, you can use one of the rivers to get quite far into town, just a couple of 'detours' across main roads and keep your eyes open for glass ... far nicer though than the stupid bits of green tarmac and barmy cycle lane nonsense which probably cost a small fortune..

 

[perplexed]

I love the New York thing, it looks great.

My only negative thought is that you'd have to have some sort of security, because as dusk approaches there is the risk of the usual idiots. There are limited escape routes if there were to be any issues.

But I really do like it!

 

[wiggydiggy]

..........whats really annoying is what they have to do to stop motorbikes riding on a lot of the paths.......

Which doesnt stop them anyway But then saying that in all the 1000s of miles I've done on canalside/ex trainline routes I've only had 3 occasions of bike/quads in over 2.5 yrs, although I realise its worse in some places than others.