
Goodbye cars, hello colour: the great reinvention of city intersections - Tomte
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2018/sep/20/goodbye-cars-hello-colour-the-great-reinvention-of-city-intersections
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adrianmonk
Where I live they have been using really bright green paint to designate
certain spots for bicycles. For example, where a bike lane crosses a car lane.

Lately I've noticed that with the accumulation of road grime and/or with the
paint fading in the sunlight, the green no longer stands out. The painted
areas are getting less and less obvious.

Point being, the idea has a lot of potential, but it is going to require a lot
of maintenance. All that paint needs to be redone (cleaned and/or repainted)
periodically.

Whereas if you put in a curb or physical barrier to demarcate where
pedestrians can stand or where bikes should be, that lasts longer / is more
permanent.

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LukeShu
Not all "paints" are equal.

In Indianapolis, for a while they were primarily using "Ride-A-Way", but
recently switched to "CycleGripMMAX", which is more expensive per square foot,
but lasts longer. Additionally, there were complaints that the Ride-A-Way
would wear down to where it was difficult for bikes to get good enough
traction to safely take curves; CycleGripMMAX is way grippier.

For smaller sections (like crosswalk-type "dotted" strips, like these[3]),
they might actually be strips of thermal-plastic melted in to the asphalt.
That should last as long as the asphalt does; yeah, it will eventually need
re-done, but at about the same time that the asphalt needs re-surfaced.

Then you'll talk to a city council person from another town who says that they
tried doing green bike-lanes, but they wore out very quickly... and reveals
that they just used outdoor paint from the hardware store.

[Ride-A-Way]:
[https://www.ennisflintamericas.com/catalog/product/view/id/1...](https://www.ennisflintamericas.com/catalog/product/view/id/1032/category/81)

[CycleGripMMAX]:
[https://www.ennisflintamericas.com/catalog/product/view/id/9...](https://www.ennisflintamericas.com/catalog/product/view/id/945/category/81)

[3]:
[https://www.google.com/maps/place/New+Albany,+IN+47150/@38.2...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/New+Albany,+IN+47150/@38.2895109,-85.8129673,38m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x88696c3c70677891:0x69e372d31b3e1b7a!8m2!3d38.2856247!4d-85.8241312)

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bmsleight_
A old term used by traffic engineers... Paint is the cheapest form of traffic
management.

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adwhit
Should people be encouraged to hang around near an intersection? Surely the
pollution is off the charts. How about just banning cars 1 day a week? Then 2,
then 3...

~~~
bobthepanda
Banning cars is a political disaster without serious alternatives. The paint
is mostly to improve public safety when crossing the road, and if you have a
lot of leftover space all of a sudden, it's better to convince people to use
it rather than turn it into a desolate space orphaned and abused by the
community that becomes dirty and crime-infested.

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tomatotomato37
The base idea is pretty good, but I guarantee some of those designs are going
to seem tacky as hell in a couple decades

