UK Cycle paths Vs Roads

[The_Doc_Man]

I remember when playing "tourist" in Ottawa that they have dedicated bicycle lanes that are set aside during non-snow seasons. The guides on the tour bus briefly discussed some statistics on their usage. I was suitable impressed.

I was more impressed (and jealously DEpressed) at the fewer number of potholes in the road in Ottawa. New Orleans cyclists have TWO issues of concern. First, our Louisiana drivers are not very good; they are arrogant and aggressive. Second, our streets are in terrible shape because Hurricane Katrina undercut the street foundations in many places and that led to formation of ginormous potholes. It takes time to do that work in a city that has a LOT of aging infrastructure to repair, particularly when the "suburban flight" is an ongoing process.

I also noted with interest that there is a section of Ottawa where the river flows through to the central business district and according to the guide, when it freezes over, it becomes an ice-skating lane for those who want to skate to work. That seems a bit slow to me, but the exercise benefits do offset the longer travel times. At least on the ice, there are considerably fewer vehicles with a chance to hit the skaters.

 

[AccessBlaster]

In California our state is doing something called a "road diet" link here. I have no issues sharing the road with bicycles, almost everyone here has one or ten.

I guess my beef with road diets are: California is roughly 700 miles long by 250 miles wide. With almost 40 million people. Now most if not all of this infrastructure was bought and paid for by the motoring public through fuel taxes, not the bicycle community.

To take away precious lane(s) and give it to the 1% is BS. We need more lanes not less, double stacked if possible.

The goal in my opinion is to frustrate and guilt trip the motoring public out of their cars period. While celebrities and politicians give up nothing.

 

[Galaxiom]

To take away precious lane(s) and give it to the 1% is BS. We need more lanes not less, double stacked if possible.

The number of cars always expands to the point of congestion however many lanes are provided. Without the bicycle lanes there would be even more cars on the road.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Like a problem in hydrodynamics, the most frequent cause of congestion is driver impatience leading to speeding leading to non-laminar flow leading to snarls. (Figuratively and literally if the driver is rabid enough.)