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I just hope that when the trams come back they are kept separate from the bike paths.
Cars are bad, but trams are much scarier (though a side-benefit of the noise is that you can hear them coming from a fair way off)...
Losing your toes to frostbite on Everest won't be the badge of honour when every third person has the same problem.
They've got a lot of ways of doing it in Amsterdam, Copenhagen and similar cities, but one way's being reproduced here in Melbourne in one street (from little things, big things grow, Paul Kelly told us).
Notice that the cyclists are physically separated from road traffic, and that the parked cars act as a barrier. Important also is the raised area between the car parking and the bike path - they call that the "car door swing zone" and the benefits are obvious to anyone who's ever cycled by parked cars.
And all without any research by the CSIRO:)
Check out the Copenhagen bike blog, Cyclelicious.
Nice idea - I always have the fear when I'm in the swing zone.
Paul Kelly has many wise things to say, but he can get stroppy at times - I saw him play at a pub in London once, and the one phrase which stuck in my mind forevermore was "I'm not a f***ing jukebox", when the crowd were yelling requests during the encore...
They don't make 'em like Paul Kelly anymore ... but what's this got to do with trams?
Kiashu used a Paul Kelly quote in the message I replied to - it was enough to launch me off into some random anecdote...
Ahhh yes ...
They don't make songwriters like Paul anymore.
This is great, really, it's the way all major roads in metro areas should have been built when we had the oil to do so. Or the cheap oil.
I live in an area where there was never even the money or foresight to put in SIDEWALKS. So if you want to walk, you have to get into the road with the cars. A lot of Ohio is like that.
Now imagine how much it would cost to put in sidewalks! Try to lobby some broke township or city to do this. When there's no money, there's no money.
Big improvements to infrastructure? Is that really possible now? I'd like to believe so myself, but it won't happen where I live--they can't even take care of the potholes. Only in the wealthiest countries....
Its not like America can't afford to fix potholes or build sidewalks (or footpaths, as we call them down here) - its just that it chooses to spend its money on other things.
Even with increased energy prices, there are large changes to the way you spend your federal budget that would enable sidewalk construction.
Assuming the country doesn't get driven completely bankrupt by the gang of crooks currently in charge of course.
Too late.
I think the latest group of crooks are just the cherry on the top of the triple scoop banana split.
The real fork in the two paths was in 1980. We had two visions, one of smiles and Morning in America and one of hard work and uncertain future. To misquote Robert Frost, "We took the easy way and it made all the difference." Can you imagine what we as country and as a world could have done with 28 years of careful leadership and actual investment? Instead we got the flying party in Chapter 21 of Life the Universe and Everything. I often wonder if it is a thin disguised description of America....
http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/tomsnyder/hg-3-21.html
Charles
:-)
What a great thought - I was too young when I read Douglas Adams to consider that he might be making a point about the politics of the day.
I loved the Flying Party idea - remember how towards the end it arms itself and start plundering neighbouring planets, in search of party liquids ?
And decimating the avocado farms on the world below.
The Hitchhikers Guide came out in 1978, during an era of fuel scarcity and critical examination of many of the periods institution. People were concerned about the Club of Rome's predictions of resource scarsity 1st world overconsumption. People were advocating Zero Population Growth because we expected that as the population of developing nations expanded, there would be proportionally more Rich and Middle Class using more resources. And there was the assumption that the third world would crawl out of poverty and start living an energy intensive standard of living.
So it doesn't surprise me that the image of a well armed, dangerous party, raiding the landscape and sucking down all the liquor was conceived in the 1970's. In many ways it describes the 1st world. Even the comments about the types of people that are at the party are spot on. Mean, but spot on.
We jog between the rail (when we are not having a Mardi Gras parade) on the St. Charles Streetcar Line in New Orleans (bicycles are banned by general consensus since hey are dangerous mechanical devices likely to drive over people) and the concreted section of the Canal Streetcar Line has become a de facto bikeway as well.
Best Hopes for Non-Oil Transportation,
Alan
I've been cycling every day in the Hague for the last few years. Generally cycle paths are separate from cars and trams as in Copenhagen, but there are quite a few places where all three share the same space. The biggest hazard for bikes, is inadvertently getting stuck in a rut - getting the front wheel stuck in the tram track, when trying to cross at a shallow angle, especially in the wet. I tasted tarmac last week in these circumstances.
I don't find cycling with trams a problem, they are slow to accelerate and very predictable. Not dropping your wheel in their tracks is the only issue i can think of. Some heroic cyclists hold onto trams for a free ride up hills, which if designed for could be a sane thing to do.
I ride on the same roads as trams all the time, and don't find them any problem at all - so predictable.
Separate bike paths are good on a road with no cross-streets and driveways. On other roads they look good, but can cause problems - the devil is in the detail of the intersections. Often the "separation" unexpectedly disappears, and motorists find newbie cyclists popping out near the kerb as they are looking in another direction.
I've ridden the Swanston St Copenhagen-style lanes, and they have this problem too. The lane disappears at the frequent intersections.
If you ride for transport in a city, bike lanes are no substitute for skills, awareness and experience in merging with other traffic, "taking the lane" etc.
And don't ride in the door zone, unless you're going very slowly! Use your merging skills to take the lane (when safe) instead.
The obvious solution is to have no breaks. Every road should have bike paths.
Works for the Danes and the Dutch.