
Britain's Forgotten Bike Highways - jamesbowman
https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/05/bike-lane-highway-network-united-kingdom-bike-boom/527226
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robotmay
I think there must be a large disconnect in the UK between people who cycle
and people who design road infrastructure. It's especially evident here in
Cardiff, a city which by all accounts should be an amazing cycling city;
largely flat, open, low-ish traffic, nice parks etc. But it's surprisingly
terrible, either due to budget constraints or incompetence. I don't ride here
any more, as I've found the risk just isn't worthwhile.

One of the most entertaining examples might well be this road, which is
perfectly straight and about a mile long. It is perfect for cycling, and to
any reasonably sensible person, an easy road to build a cycle lane on:
[https://goo.gl/maps/8FjYE67SCfM2](https://goo.gl/maps/8FjYE67SCfM2)

But see if you can spy where they actually built it. Not on the side of the
road next to the railway, which is 1 mile of unbroken flat land with no
junctions. That's where I'd build it (and you probably would too).

No, instead they built it outside the front entrance of the apartments that
line the other side of the road, broken every 100 yards by a junction, with a
fence directly across the cycle lane. So cyclists have to merge in and out of
pedestrians, wait at junctions, and they're directly outside the front
entrance of buildings, making residents cross the cycle path to get to the
pavement.

And don't even get me started on this magnificent idiocy:
[https://goo.gl/maps/8EBCSXXJHcP2](https://goo.gl/maps/8EBCSXXJHcP2)

~~~
Boothroid
The UK is such a land of contrasts. Are we pro cycling? Anti cycling? The
record shows that we provided the world with its finest cyclists over the past
decade, but the experience as a cyclist on the roads is not pleasant.

Are we pro-car? Anti-car? Driving is usually miserable anywhere but the
hinterland, and yet we supply the world with almost all its F1 cars.

The answers seem so obvious and yet we struggle to bring about change. This is
the land of Newton, Maxwell, Hawking for God's sake! Why is this land of
progress yet so stunted in ambition? It confuses me.

~~~
jdavis703
Racing vehicles (let's include bikes with that) are not really comparable with
a daily commute though? If you assume that most bikes and cars are just trying
to get to work or the grocery store the stark contrast seems a bit more muted.

~~~
Boothroid
But surely that renders the contrast still more poignant, not less - the
juxtaposition of the rarest exception with the commonplace?

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lmm
> “At the time, the feeling among cycling groups was, ‘We deserve our place on
> the road. We don't want to be relegated to a secondary system,’”

This matches a lot of my experience in Britain. When there's a cycle lane
alongside a road drivers will often get aggressive about you cycling in the
main roadway, even when (as is so often the case) the cycle lane is unsafe or
unsuitable.

IMO we should focus less on distinct cycling routes, and more on making road
junctions safer for cyclists.

~~~
porker
> even when (as is so often the case) the cycle lane is unsafe or unsuitable.

Near me there's a mixed-use cycleway alongside a main road (put in 10-15 years
ago). Driveways cross it regularly and you have to stop at every side-road to
cross, but the big problem is commercial buildings with lowered kerbs and
driveways. We have a drive-through restaurant, two car washes and a business
park. Cycling along there is lethal because the drivers don't look before
turning in or coming out. I choose to cycle on the road because while annoying
drivers I feel safer.

~~~
gjjrfcbugxbhf
The difference is that in cycle friendly countries the cycle lane has priority
over the driveways and small roads (same priority as the road it is next to).
In the UK the cycle lane is usually given the lowest priority. This makes a
massive difference to safety and usability.

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thescarzy
I really hope that the bicycle makes a comeback that we can attribute to
increased urbanisation. It makes so much sense as a mode of transport in and
around cities.

~~~
mintone
If you are carrying nothing. If you need to carry anything larger than a
laptop bag / backpack then a bike becomes highly impractical very, very
quickly.

~~~
kalleboo
You can't do a week's worth of shopping but in an urban environment it's easy
enough to stop by a supermarket every couple days on your way home from
work/school. I can fit 2 supermarket shopping bags in the front basket and
strap a bale of toilet paper to the rear package holder no sweat. Around here
furniture and electronics stores typically offer same- or next-day delivery
for free or cheap.

~~~
lkozma
You can even do a week's shopping, using a bicycle-pulled trailer (otherwise
used for carrying small kids). As a side-effect you even benefit from the
courtesy of drivers, who may think you are carrying your children as usually.

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jusben1369
"Uncovering and reusing these old tracks could prove far cheaper than
constructing new lanes."

\- I guess that seems key to me. Those lanes are nearly 90 years old. How much
cheaper would they be vs new ones? And is that savings (10%, 30%?) really the
thing that's holding back adding a nationwide biking network?

~~~
ItsDeathball
I think the key point is that they already have a right of way reserved for
cycling use, so even if they all need to be rebuilt the cost is merely that of
breaking up and laying down concrete. Generally any bike infrastructure
project has to contend with the politics of taking space away from cars.

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rmason
In Lansing the community is building out a network of bike trails but its
patchy.

Detroit has gotten very aggressive creating dedicated lanes taken off not so
busy roads and using old railroad right of ways. You can go almost anywhere in
the downtown area by bike. There are even rentals available.

[http://detroitgreenways.org/bike-map-and-
parking/](http://detroitgreenways.org/bike-map-and-parking/)

Some of the trails that slice through industrial areas even feature artwork
like the famed DeQuindre cut

[https://www.traillink.com/trail/dequindre-cut-
greenway/](https://www.traillink.com/trail/dequindre-cut-greenway/)

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gpvos
I didn't know much about bicycle paths in the Netherlands in the 1930s, so I
googled around a bit. It turns out that creating an organization of people
campaigning for bicycle paths, like the Kickstarter described in the article,
is a quintessentially Dutch thing to do. In the early 20th century, bicycle
path associations popped up all over the country, some just campaigning,
others also (partially) funding paths. In the 1950s interest waned, as
constructing bicycle paths was seen more as a duty of the government.
[https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijwielpadvereniging](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijwielpadvereniging)
(Dutch)

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wmwragg
Sustrans ([https://www.sustrans.org.uk](https://www.sustrans.org.uk)) has
built, and is continuing to expand, a wonderful cycle network across the UK.

~~~
nicky0
Wonderful network isn't the word is use for it. It's more of a patched
together hodgepodge. One minute you are on a nice bit of road, the next you
are diverted on to some weird alleys round the back of a housing estate. Then
you can't see the next sign so you make a guess and hope for the best. Then
you say fuck it I'm just riding on the road now.

~~~
Doctor_Fegg
I'd say it's 90% (by mileage) good, and I've cycled a few thousand miles of it
so that's based on significant experience. But there are certainly poor
quality bits. Sustrans is currently doing a mile-by-mile review of the network
with the intention of bringing it all up to a quality standard, and
withdrawing those sections which can't reach it.

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rz2k
The BayTrail is a similar project for San Francisco Bay area:
[http://baytrail.org/baytrailmap.html](http://baytrail.org/baytrailmap.html)

Around the US there are tens of thousands of miles of trails that have been
converted from railways. Rails-to-Trails is one nonprofit that focuses on
converting unused railways: [https://www.railstotrails.org/about/about-
us/](https://www.railstotrails.org/about/about-us/)

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Yeah, built but not maintained. Here in Iowa some arteries get some funding
but the spurs have grown over. They are full of gopher holes and trees grow
through the path now. Some get occasionally mowed; others have eroded away.

It was an enthusiastic surge of conversion 15 years ago, but with no revenue
(no road tax for bikes) who pays for patching, grading, mowing?

~~~
jschwartzi
I think you'd be surprised how many cyclists also own(and pay taxes on) a car.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
...which are used to maintain roads. Here in Iowa, they only pay half of what
it takes to maintain the roads. Nothing left over. So bike paths are under
'parks and recreation' sadly.

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WalterBright
In the Seattle area, we have many railroad corridors still there. But in the
push to create light rail, they've been completely ignored, creating new
right-of-ways nearby at incredible cost.

Some of them still have (unused) rusting tracks still sitting on them.

It's especially baffling as the area has horrific traffic gridlock that is
expected to get much, much worse due to the city's prosperity.

~~~
frenchy
I don't know what the situation is like in the US, but in Canada, the old
railroad corridors are often siting there, unused, because the railroad
company owns the land and is trying to sell it some obscene fee (land that the
government originally gave them for free).

~~~
WalterBright
That isn't the case here. The city owns the corridors.

~~~
posguy
Which corridors are you referring to? What neighborhood? You've piqued my
interest, as someone who knows way too much about light rail & commuter rail
in this city.

~~~
WalterBright
The eastside rail corridor is one. It stretches from Renton to Bothell.

[https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bellevue,+WA/@47.5681081,-...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bellevue,+WA/@47.5681081,-122.1856787,16z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x54906bcfa3a66041:0xbacf5482ead00765!8m2!3d47.6101497!4d-122.2015159)

Look on the west side of 405, there's a faint grey line. That's it. It used to
be labeled on Google maps as "Eastside Rail Corridor", but that has been
erased.

Given the total silence about it during the Seattle Transit debate, the
Seattle Times never ever mentioning it in any of their articles about light
rail in King County, and the gradual removal of it from maps, would almost
suggest there's a conspiracy.

Converting it to light rail would double the trackage of Seattle Transit at
minimal cost, and would connect the entire east side to Seattle and the
airport.

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amiga-workbench
In the north east of England, the old railway tracks were pulled up and turned
into footpaths, I use one of these to cycle into work every day.

