I agree very, very strongly with all of this. I would bike far more in Ottawa if we had bike infrastructure along these lines. As it is, I try to bike somewhere but am so freaked out by biking in unfriendly traffic that I give up. I’d also like a way to figure out the best and safest bike route to get somewhere. The mapping apps (google maps etc) happily send one through horrible intersections and along dangerous streets.
Great stuff. I would add a simple guideline for choosing the type of bicycle infrastructure by road speed limit that Mikael Colville-Andersen from Copenhagenize outlines in his book by the same name.
< 20 km/h - cars and bikes can safely share space
20- 40 km/h - painted bike lane is often sufficient, but maybe add markers
40 - 60 km/h - physically protected bike lane on road surface
> 60 km/h - completely separate bike path on different level.
Agree strongly, but I would add clearly signposted. I have a good sense of direction and cycle enough that I can find my way around Ottawa, but there are very few signs indicating where routes go, particularly those which are not on major roads. A modest investment in signage would increase utilization of the paths we already have
I agree very, very strongly with all of this. I would bike far more in Ottawa if we had bike infrastructure along these lines. As it is, I try to bike somewhere but am so freaked out by biking in unfriendly traffic that I give up. I’d also like a way to figure out the best and safest bike route to get somewhere. The mapping apps (google maps etc) happily send one through horrible intersections and along dangerous streets.
Great stuff. I would add a simple guideline for choosing the type of bicycle infrastructure by road speed limit that Mikael Colville-Andersen from Copenhagenize outlines in his book by the same name.
< 20 km/h - cars and bikes can safely share space
20- 40 km/h - painted bike lane is often sufficient, but maybe add markers
40 - 60 km/h - physically protected bike lane on road surface
> 60 km/h - completely separate bike path on different level.
This is really good, and so sensible. I might be able to get these guidelines into our next article
Please contact him for more details or I can lend you his book.
Agree strongly, but I would add clearly signposted. I have a good sense of direction and cycle enough that I can find my way around Ottawa, but there are very few signs indicating where routes go, particularly those which are not on major roads. A modest investment in signage would increase utilization of the paths we already have