Urban Cycling Developments

[M II A II R II K]

Civil engineering professor Glen Koorey posts terrific information concerning bicycle planning best practices, based on his three-month tour of North American and European cities.

Lessons from Overseas Cycling Infrastructure: http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/tag...eas-learnings/

[M II A II R II K]

Have You Heard About That Awesome New Bike-Share Diet?

Read More: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/bik...its-data-study

For the last several years, bike-share has been the darling of U.S. bike advocates and city officials. It has been promoted as a boon to urban transportation that will help reduce congestion, normalize public perceptions of bicycling, improve health, bolster economies, reduce CO2 emissions, improve safety and more.

- Though there is likely some truth in those claims, they are often backed up by anecdotal evidence rather than hard data. It’s a problem that has the potential to undermine bike-share’s explosive expansion if the purported benefits turn out to be less than promised. --- “Bike-share attracts money … and it’s very popular so every city wants to have one to be cool,” says Miriam Ricci, a researcher at the University of the West of England’s Centre for Transport and Society. “I started to read lots of articles, academic papers and blogs about bike-sharing … and I was perplexed that there was a lot of hype and enthusiasm and lots of claims about CO2 savings and so on but very little or robust evidence to back it up.”

- Ricci found evidence that supported many of the claimed benefits including economic and health impact, new cyclist creation, and more. But there’s also a serious lack of proof that bike-sharing programs reduce congestion (in some cases, they may even increase congestion), get people out of their cars or help the environment. One of the most common reasons cited for launching bike-share is to increase the number of bicyclists in a city. --- According to Ricci’s paper, a recent survey of London bike-share’s active users found that 78 percent started to ride or ride more as a result of the system. Similarly, 68.4 percent of sampled bike-share users in Dublin claimed, “not to have cycled for their current trip prior to the launch of Dublinbikes” and 63.4 say they purchased a private bicycle after using bike-share.

- Congestion reduction is perhaps bike-share’s biggest selling point. If bike-share increases the number of cyclists and frequency with which they ride, it makes sense that it would reduce traffic congestion. But, Ricci found that bike-share users don’t bike instead of driving so much as they bike instead of taking transit or walking. --- She writes that, “although Dublinbikes users reported considerable behavioral change, the prevailing trend showed a large modal shift (80.2 percent) from sustainable modes of travel to the bicycle, particularly from walking (45.6 percent) and including transfer from bus (25.8 percent) and rail (8.8 percent).” Still, nearly 20 percent of Dublinbikes users say they now drive less. Other European and American cities saw far lower rates of mode shift. In London only 2 percent of users shifted away from cars. In Lyon, France, and Washington, D.C., it’s 7 percent.

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[M II A II R II K]

Even North Korea Is Building Bike Lanes

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/...-lanes/398510/

[M II A II R II K]

This Invention Could Boost Bicyclist Protection Laws

Read More: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/bik...e-passing-cars

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The C3FT uses ultrasound to record when drivers pass too closely, allowing the user to provide evidence of the infraction to a judge.

- Austin begins its road tests before the end of this month. Another municipality near Tampa, Florida, is trying one out as well, says Codaxus co-founder Christopher Stanton. Municipalities from all over the country are calling in and asking about the device, he adds. But while helping officers enforce the law and defend tickets is its primary use, it’s hardly its biggest benefit — or even its raison d‘être.

- The inventors, users and cycling advocates who herald its creation say that having an avenue for enforcement removes one of the biggest obstacles to passing so-called “vulnerable user” laws in states and cities across the country. Efforts to make cities more bicycle friendly has led to the passage in three dozen states of vulnerable user laws, which aim to alter vehicle traffic behavior to allow all users safer road access.

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[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Separated bike lanes in Toronto all set to grow

Read More: http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hal...t-to-grow.html

Knowing that private cars are the least efficient form of transportation in an urban area in terms of the space required to move a given number of people, why would converting car lanes into something more efficient be a source of concern?

People are weird...

[emathias]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Have You Heard About That Awesome New Bike-Share Diet?

Read More: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/bik...its-data-study

I don't know about them, but I definitely take fewer taxis now that I bike regularly. But I do also ride the bus and train less as well as walk less.

[Londonee]

Philly Bike Share INDEGO Hits 100,000 Ride Mark Faster Than Peer Cities

http://planphilly.com/articles/2015/...nd-next-spring

- Indego has around 600 bikes in its system of about 60 stations and only had around 500 during its first month, making the six-figure milestone more impressive.

- While a few more stations and bikes will be added in the coming months, the next big expansion of the system is planned for next spring.

- Indego is expected to ultimately expand to 180 stations and 1,800 bikes. It hit the 100,000-ride mark just two months after its debut.

- In Boston, the Hubway’s six hundred bikes had only been ridden around 75,000 times at the two-month mark. In Washington D.C., Capital Bikeshare only hit 80,000 by this time, despite starting off with 800 bikes. And Denver’s program only reached 100,000 after seven months.

[M II A II R II K]

'Bike Autobahns' Could Be Coming to Munich

Read More: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/...munich/399410/

Munich has a new plan that could totally reshape how cyclists access the city: so-called bike Autobahns. To be launched tomorrow by the city’s planning association, Munich’s proposal imagines a new 14-path network of broad, two-way, entirely segregated bike highways that have neither crossroads nor traffic lights to hold up circulation.

- While still at the blueprint phase, Munich’s plans could well represent the shape of things to come across Northern Europe. As the provision of roadside bike paths is increasingly being accepted as a civic obligation rather than a perk, cities and regions are moving on to create a second wave of bike infrastructure that is heavier, more highly protected,and considerably more expensive.

- Calling a bike path an autobahn might sound grandiose, but what Munich’s plan proposes is certainly heftier and more ambitious than what it provides cyclists with at present. Currently, German cities’ bike lanes are typically single-file affairs that are marked out by special paint or paving but not necessarily protected from cars by barriers. Where possible, they are carved out from sidewalk rather than road space.

- Compared to what less bike-friendly countries offer, they are a dream, but they’re nonetheless behind what’s on offer in Denmark or the Netherlands. Negotiating a German city by bike remains a disconcerting experience, requiring you to move from sidewalk paths onto the edge of busy roads and from smooth surfaces onto crotch-rattling cobbles.

- More broadly, the plan, which will need to pass a consultation period and be voted through by political representatives before becoming a reality, shows a shift in emphasis on ideas about what bike infrastructure should be. Running from the inner city out into the countryside, the network would be aimed not at jump-on, jump-off cyclists zipping around town, but at riders taking longer journeys. The bike highways’ real target users are commuters coming in from across the city region, as well as day-trippers heading out to Munich’s idyllic subalpine (but mainly flat and thus bike-friendly) surroundings. The network thus makes long-distance bike rides more accessible and palatable to the general public.

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[M II A II R II K]

How Groningen invented a cycling template for cities all over the world

Read More: http://www.theguardian.com/cities/20...over-the-world

Traffic lights with rain sensors to give quicker priority to cyclists on wet days … Heated cycle paths so cyclists won’t slip during bouts of frost … This might sound like science fiction to you, but in the Dutch city of Groningen it will soon be everyday reality.

The inhabitants of this lively northern university city regard their homestead as the cycling capital of the Netherlands. They might very well be right: 61% of all trips in Groningen are made by bicycle, rising to more than 70% for trips made to educational institutions. You might think the city authorities would be satisfied with these statistics. But apparently it’s not enough, and new plans are in the pipeline to push cycling even more.

Intelligent traffic lights and heated cycle paths are only part of the plan. New “park and bike” areas with bike rental services will emerge on access roads to encourage commuters to leave their cars behind and enter the city by bike. Five thousand new parking places for bikes will be built near the main train station – next to the existing 10,000 that, believe it or not, have proved themselves insufficient. And a “bicycle effect analysis” will be obligatory for each territorial development project to ensure that provisions are made for bikes right from the start. These are just a few of the new, bicycle-friendly measures.

“The bike is the number-one mode of transport in the centre of Groningen,” says local politician Paul de Rook, who rides his bicycle daily to the city hall, “but we have to make an effort to keep it that way, because our population is growing and public space is severely under pressure. We want cycling to really become part of our local pride.”

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[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

This Invention Could Boost Bicyclist Protection Laws

Read More: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/bik...e-passing-cars

but will it record when bikers pass too closely to pedestrians? because that is by far the bigger issue than bikers vs cars.

[Matthew]

Winston-Salem Building Bike Lanes on an Expressway:

Winston-Salem is building a bicycle commuting route along an expressway that is being rebuilt. The North Carolina Department of Transportation will build it and a community group is finding the money and hiring the designers. According to City Beat newspaper: Building a bicycle commuter path beside an expressway is a relatively novel concept in the United States, but it is common in Europe and Australia. The path must be constructed inside the NCDOT right-of-way. To protect cyclists, the path will be at a different grade from the expressway.

They have to open this to pedestrians, however it is being built for cyclists, with the city's cycling community showing-up in large numbers and contacting their councilpersons to move this project forward. It will have tunnels, cycling interchanges, a flyover ramp, and bridges. It will connect the university medical center and multiple neighborhoods to downtown, including the ballpark and IQ District.

A group of local residents have formed an organization to hire designers to create custom bridges and they are working on designs for the walls along the ridge cuts, so it should look better than this. I'll show a few examples of the final designs at the end of the post. This is a first of its kind project for the NC DOT.

This is how a bicycle commuter lane appears from a driver's point-of-view on an expressway. (See the railing on the right)

Credit: NC DOT

The view from the actual lane. Again, they have to open it to pedestrians, but it's designed for bicycle commuting.

Credit: NC DOT

This is a bicycle flyover, over an expressway on-ramp, where it intersects with an existing bicycle path at a proposed bridge.

Credit: NC DOT

Like I said, those are just rough models. They have hired designers to completely redesign these bridges, the cycling ramps, and highway cut.

This is what the finished bridge with bicycle flyover ramp will actually look like. (The Oakland-based designer is calling it a "Land Bridge")

Credit: NC DOT


Credit: Hood Design Studio / Walter Hood

The "Land Bridge" will hide the expressway from cyclists. There is nothing to hide it from those on the flyover ramp though.

This is another proposed bike and pedestrian bridge, linking the route to the West Salem Neighborhood and BB&T Ballpark.

Credit: JournalNow Donald MacDonald Architects

Construction on the project is expected to start next year.

...I thought it was an interesting project.

[mrnyc]

^ ok, but i wish there was physical seperation between cyclists and pedestrians. looks too narrow to do that though unfortunately.

[Nouvellecosse]

Why would there need to be a pedestrian element in the first place? Is there really such a pressing lack of side walks there that pedestrians need a special route running along the freeway? These things are needed for bikes because it's illegal to drive them on the sidewalk in many places, and dangerous or unnerving on many roads.

In other words, the physical separation between the cyclists and the pedestrians could be in form of a sign saying "Cyclists Only; No Pedestrian Access".

That being said, I've used many multi-use trails and it hasn't seemed like that big an issue. When there are pedestrians, bikers need to slow down a bit and simply drive around them. And pedestrians need to walk no more than two abreast. The only time I really get annoyed is if there's a group of 4 or 5 people walking side-by-side.

[mrnyc]

because pedestrians need to cross highways too and because pedestrians needs > cyclists needs, because of physical danger, especially on narrow crossings, crowded or not, ideally the signs should say 'walk your bikes around pedestrians' because bikers always tend to be dangerous terrorists passing pedestrians and you know it

[Nouvellecosse]

I'm talking about the route that runs parallel to the highway which I assume was for an extended distance. I'm not talking about the overpasses which should be short enough that it shouldn't matter much.

[Matthew]

You are correct. They don't have room to widen this. They gained the extra room to double the shoulder width and add this bicycle commuter project through reducing the number of exits. Some of the space used by the former acceleration and deceleration ramps will be used for this project. Walkers and joggers have no real interest in this, but cyclists are saying it will give them equality with cars. It's very clear what it is and who it's for. I'm imagining cyclists traveling at a fast speed with likely two large panniers. And when the grocery store opens along this path, expect cargo bikes, too. It doesn't sound like something pedestrians would want to walk along, when there are nice sidewalks in beautiful historic districts, all-around this project.

I finally have an answer as to why it must allow pedestrians. The eastern end of the project will connect to an existing double-width sidewalk, in an area where they couldn't build a more traditional bike path. In that area, they are "threading-a-needle" under a bridge. They will also use a double-width sidewalk to connect the West Salem Neighborhood to the "oak tree-inspired" bridge, which connects to this project. Double-width sidewalks allow them to separate cyclists from car traffic and still allow pedestrians to use the sidewalk. Very unusual. When this was built in 2013, I remember saying they will have to paint bicycles on this double-width sidewalk and add bicycle route signs on it. As cyclists, we are told not to ride on the sidewalk.

This is where the expressway-side bicycle route will connect to an existing double-width multi-use sidewalk:

Double-width sidewalk for pedestrians and cyclists.

You can see above where a regular width pedestrian-only sidewalk becomes a double-width multi-use sidewalk to connect three multi-use trails together. I'm guessing the double-width sidewalks, to allow for safe cycling, will likely become a bigger topic than a bike route along an expressway.

Quotes from city meetings on this project:

Originally Posted by Councilman Dan Besse

I think judging from the kind of reaction I get from my constituents and the big turnout at the last public works committee where we were discussing this project, there is a great deal of interest particularly from cyclists in the area of Ardmore and the Baptist Hospital complex who want to ride downtown.

Originally Posted by Councilwoman Molly Leight

The desire for enhanced cycling infrastructure in Winston-Salem is balanced against a political prerogative to rebuild aesthetically pleasing bridges.

Originally Posted by Christy Turner - Stimmel Associates

There’s a perception that it’s not an attractive place for a multi-use path. Our reason is it’s more intended to be an alternative transportation facility than a recreational facility, which is how we often view multi-use paths.

[mrnyc]

good work akron!


Tallmadge Ave. gets bike lane, $1 million available for Akron art ideas: Akron news roundup



North Hill Better Block
The normally torrid six-lane stretch of North Hill's Main Street was narrowed to just two lanes, with widened sidewalks, parking and protected bike lanes on both sides of the street. The city will replicate some of the Better Block modifications in its plan to reconfigure Tallmadge Avenue. (Team Better Block/Tim Fitzwater Photography/)


AKRON, Ohio -- Tallmadge Avenue in North Hill is about to get a bike lane makeover.

The city is planning to overhaul the thoroughfare between North Main Street and the Ohio 8 freeway, where it intersects with Dayton Avenue. The new street will be reduced from two lanes in each direction to one lane in each direction, with a turn lane in the center.

Bike lanes and improved sidewalks are also part of the overhaul, which is scheduled to begin in July 2017 and finish by May 2018.

City Engineer Mike Teodecki called the design a "complete street approach."

"Right now you have narrow lanes, people are traveling fast and when they want to turn left and turn right, they are stopping in the street," Teodecki said. "We are getting them a turn lane, so traffic will flow more efficiently, and there are better amenities for pedestrians as well."

The city will also replace the current traffic signals with camera-controlled, specially timed signals designed to keep traffic moving more consistently, Teodecki said.

[M II A II R II K]

London Pushes Through Stiff Resistance to Cycle Superhighways

Read More: http://www.citiesofthefuture.eu/lond...superhighways/

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London is a big huffing puffing city, so Mayor Boris Johnson’s success in pushing ahead with his plan to build cycle superhighways right through the heart of it seems nothing short of a small miracle.

- They won’t be finished before May of next year, but the concept, as Boris Johnson said in March at the inauguration of the building, goes far beyond simply smoothing the ride for cyclists: “Getting more people on their bikes will reduce pressure on the road, bus and rail networks, cut pollution and improve life for everyone, whether or not they cycle themselves.” --- The “Crossrail for the Bike” will be 21 miles long and almost completely separated from motor traffic: 18 miles travelling east-west (from Barking to Acton) and 3 miles running north-south (from King’s Cross to Elephant and Castle). When completed in 2016, it will be Europe’s longest segregated bike path.

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[M II A II R II K]

City looks to more protected bike lanes to deal with traffic

Read More: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/b...h_traffic.html

Honolulu city transit officials look to add a grid of protected bike lanes in the coming years to help better deal with the island’s crippling car traffic – and also to accommodate the future public bike-share and rail transit systems, they say.

They’re not just considering a new protected bike lane along South Street, but also mauka-makai routes to be installed eventually on Ward Avenue, Keeaumoku, McCully, Pensacola and Piikoi streets. Those details came during a public meeting Tuesday in which city officials also shared plans to eventually install a protected bike lane at Halekauwila Street. It would run underneath rail’s future elevated guideway, as it approaches Ala Moana Center.

“These aren’t just bike projects, they’re policy statements” that include redesigning local streets so that they provide more options than just cars, city Department of Transportation Services Director Mike Formby said. A crowd of at least 200 people packed into a Neal S. Blaisdell Center conference room, most of them overwhelmingly supportive of the bike lane projects, to listen to the plan while cars idled in gridlock on Ward Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard outside during rush hour traffic.

Attendees suggested the city install better signage along bike routes – especially where those routes are about to end. They also suggested that city better educate drivers on how to share the road – and that cyclists obey the rules of the road. --- “Sometimes we’re our own worst enemies” when cyclists don’t obey those rules, avid cyclist and community activist Natalie Iwasa said. Makakilo resident Eddie Cox, who said he commutes from Kapolei to the airport by bike, called on the city to better maintain the Pearl Harbor bike path. He added that cyclists traveling to and from West Oahu need safer routes in general.

Meanwhile, city officials said that they’ve studied and made changes to the King Street protected lane, also known as the cycle track, a pilot project installed on the mauka side of the street about nine months ago at a cost of about $500,000. The city removed 11 parking spaces on the outside of the lane to improve visibility, deputy director of transportation Mark Garrity told the crowd.

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[NorthernDancer]

Falling Behind on Protected Bike Lanes? Blame Canada

http://www.streetsblog.net/2015/07/3...-blame-canada/

Andersen says all the Twitter talk has been matched by activity on the ground:

Plans in some cities are more advanced than in others. Vancouver has arguably made the most significant investment in a connected protected bike lane network of any city on the continent over the last four years. Calgary is in the early months of an inspiring downtown trial. In Halifax, advocates deserve some sort of award for going street-by-street to measure existing lane widths and create their own detailed plan for a citywide protected bike lane network.