Am Thu, 25 Jun 2020 21:07:22 -0400 schrieb Frank Krygowski
:

On 6/25/2020 12:56 PM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:

Bike facilites are almost always crap. Good bike facilities are almost
always not recognizeable as bike facilites. Like, for example, using low
rolling resistance asphalt. Or rightsizing lanes.

I agree with you in general. I'm just not 100% adamant.

I'm neither, that's why I wrote "almost always".

IOW, I think
there can be bits of bike infrastructure that are beneficial, as rare as
they are. My favorites, in the few places I've found them, have been
shortcuts or "leaks" that let cyclists through places where motorists
have to drive the long way around. (I helped to get two of those in my
village.)

Sure. But what makes these shortcuts "bicycle facilities"? Are
pedestrians prohibited? What about other nonmotorized vehicles, what
about riders on horses? What about motorcycles which are bicycles by
law? (We unfortunately have those in Germany).

Why not just call them shortcuts, because they are?

Personally, I prefer shortcuts which are optimized for bike usage, but
still are useable and occasionally used by cars. It keeps the people in
charge honest. Just make the shortcut unattractive for cars, for
example by allowing motorized traffic both ways, but make it too narrow
for two cars. Nobody likes to drive a car backwards on a winding course.



Today we did a 30+ mile ride through the suburbs to get my new cycling
shoes. Much of it was on tangled residential streets specifically
designed to reduce cut-through traffic. I did a lot of intense
navigating, and was stymied a couple times by streets that were shown to
connect, but in real life did not.

This is a standard design for new housing estates in the countryside. I
hate it. Usually, this design includes mandatory sideway bike paths
shared with pedestrians, on all streets that do not follow this
pattern, because parents in those estates think bicycles are for
children, only.



If those streets had ended with connector paths, the residents would
still have the low motor vehicle traffic they cherish, but bicyclists
would have an easier and more pleasant way of getting to practical
places. (I guess that's roughly the definition of a "bicycle boulevard.")

People quicky find out that their garbage cans perfectly fit into those
connector paths, just like dog walkers find that unowned patch of green
(common green?) perfectly useable for their dog ****ting on it. See
"tragedy of the commons".





BTW, we passed just two short bike lanes. I avoided them entirely and
rode the normal travel lane. Why? There was so much gravel I feared
getting a flat.

Sure. So do I. I try to steer around mazes, too, especially around
mazes that contain traps looking like shortcuts. :-) I have had enough
experience with such traps. Flats are easy, broken bones and damaged
nerves are not.

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