Posted Nov 12, 2010, 7:04 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Toronto
Posts: 52,200
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We need real bike paths for real bike transportation
Read More: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-11...transportaiton
Quote:
Last month, a young woman was jogging along the popular new Katy Trail in Dallas, Texas, wearing headphones. She turned left and was struck by a woman on a bicycle. The jogger's head hit the pavement. Several days later, she died.
The Katy Trail is not a trail in the woods, but a multi-use path, or, in planning-speak, a "MUP." These paved byways are varyingly called trails, paths, rail trails, bike trails, or linear parks. The mix of terminology reflects the current confusion about what exactly they are for.
The original concept is that of the linear park -- a destination in the city or suburbs where locals of all ages can go get fresh air and exercise in a natural setting. Mellow recreation was the idea. The bicycle has always been part of this mix. But MUPs aren't always simply about recreation. The use of these paths as transportation corridors, rather than parks, is being pushed increasingly at a local level, and even promoted by the feds, including in a recent interview with U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on this site.
But there's a disconnect between the speedy reality of bicycle transportation and the slow, recreational uses these trails are designed for. Multi-use paths are only required to be eight feet wide. That's fine for a stroll in the park, but when you factor in two lanes for bikes as well as joggers, skaters, and roving families, it's alarmingly narrow.
Most planning guidelines acknowledge that a 10-foot trail width is better, and recommend 12 for areas with heavy bicycle traffic. Even that -- as we learned on the Katy Trail, which is still being built to these state-of-the-art standards and even includes a narrower, supplemental trail for walking -- isn't enough when bikes are in the mix.
It should be no surprise that these paths see a high collision and injury rate. A 2009 literature review of traffic safety studies looked at bicycle crashes and discovered that multi-use paths are more dangerous to ride on than even major roads.
Most attempts to address the danger focus on educating users to "share the path." This has been the gist of the most levelheaded responses to the tragic incident on the Katy Trail.
In effect, this is a way to blame the users. This becomes more clear when you brave the comment section on any story about the tragedy. The vitriolic finger-pointing starts immediately. Some blame bicyclists who ride fast and don't use their bells when passing. Others blame walkers and joggers who stop suddenly, don't hold their line, and let their kids and dogs run freely. Everyone blames people wearing headphones. Some simply blame everyone.
Meanwhile, few are looking to the real culprit: the increasingly common practice of building transportation facilities that cannot safely or comfortably carry the planned types of traffic, promoting them heavily, and then accepting easy credit for providing bike routes without having to take the political risks of encroaching on the vast amounts of roadways reserved for cars.
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