Dr. Anne Lusk of Harvard's School of Public Health is so enamoured with what she calls "Cycle Tracks" that the Washington Post is writing about it:
The above photo is from Copenhagen, but similar things exist in Montreal too.She'd like to equip [American cities] with cycle tracks.
Cycle tracks? Does she mean the painted buffer lane for bikes you see on some streets? No! Those lanes are easily blocked by vehicles attempting to park. And they leave cyclists within inches of fast cars and monster trucks; if there's any error, you know who get hurts, often badly.
Cycle tracks, notes Lusk, are actually a separated part of the roadway yet distinct from the roadway, distinct from the sidewalk. In their purest form -- Odense, Denmark, where 50 percent of all city journeys are by bicycle -- the paths even have their own traffic signals.
What actually separates the cycle track? It can be a long, narrow curb. Or a line of cones or concrete barriers. Or metal stanchions. Or a line of trees and other vegetation (an on-street greenway).
Labels: elsewhere
Discuss this topic and a lot more on the BikingToronto Forum
