This is Seattle’s Burke-Gilman trail. Along it, bikes and pedestrians are told to share the trail, to walk on the right and the opposite, so everybody walks whichever way they feel like at any point. Can you imagine what would happen if Seattle treated cars the same way?.
Do you want to have to pave bikeways over and over again because they are full of bumps and holes every other year?. Just make sure to install them very close to tall trees. Actually, even worse, just plant another row of trees on the other side too.
If you have a recreational boat Seattle’s bridges will raise for you stopping all traffic no matter what.
If you have a car the barriers will go up for you first.
If you walk, bike or are in a wheel chair, Seattle will treat you like a third class citizen. Specially if you use the Ballard bridge.
Do you know what happens when a bike way is made out of paint? Cars park on it. And if you add flexi-posts? Cars run them over when they park on it and they are all gone in a couple of months. Just have a look at the red car parked in the middle of the bike way after running over some flexi-posts.
Do you want to give bikers a daily headache?. Then simply discontinue the bike way when it reaches an intersection. Even worse, also put a traffic light in the middle of it.
Dutch style bicycles are the results of decades of good biking culture and intelligent design: they are durable, they allow to bike in an upright, ergonomic posture, they provide racks for your panniers, and their chainguards prevent your pants from getting stained while also reducing maintenance on the transmission system. As a matter of fact, Dutch style bicycles are great for rainy weather.
But here in the US, and specifically in rainy Seattle, they are nowhere to be found. People don’t ride them, stores don’t sell them, and even some components like chainguards are missing altogether.
Why is so? In my opinion, the social fabric that would use them is missing. Here in the US there are two sides when it comes to biking: the sunny-weekend-only, recreational riders (which ride a good looking bicycle, heavy and with fat tires); and those who ride it daily for ethical or healthy reasons (which usually aim for a speedy and lightweight bike).
So who is missing? John Doe. John Doe isn’t yet using the bike to commute to work or go to the supermarket. And although bike usage keeps growing little by little in the cities, one wonders if in 20 years John will by riding his Dutch bicycle, or he will sitting on a self-driving electric car.
Getting parking right is key when it comes to biking infrastructure: do it wrong and you’ll create a deadly trap waiting for you to get doored, do it well and create a barrier that will improve the cyclist’s security.
If you think about it, often times drivers ride alone, which means that, often times, cycling on the right of parked cars is safer. Additionally, cars parked on the left of bikeways are a great substitute for physical elements plus you get them for free. Additionally, if cars park on the left of bikeways there is no interference between bicycles and cars when the later are about to park.
Seattle has at least a dozen different ways of designing parking, ranging from terrible through excellent, here is a very good one.
