Double decker roads?
downfader
Posts: 3,686
A long while ago I had this fantasy while stuck in traffic. It seemed on this particular day that every car driver had decided to weave into odd positions all over the road so I had to get off and walk - still faster than waiting in the traffic.
Then as i was doing so I thought that it would be cool to have double-decker road systems (got the idea from when I was a kid and reading Judge Dredd) where only light vehicles like bikes could use them and just whipp over busy roads. Like a motorway for bikes.
Think of those old canal bridges - the engineering and simplicity. Does make me wonder if this is how we will end up in the future with so many people still buying cars (and using them unnecessarily).
Or am I barmy?
Then as i was doing so I thought that it would be cool to have double-decker road systems (got the idea from when I was a kid and reading Judge Dredd) where only light vehicles like bikes could use them and just whipp over busy roads. Like a motorway for bikes.
Think of those old canal bridges - the engineering and simplicity. Does make me wonder if this is how we will end up in the future with so many people still buying cars (and using them unnecessarily).
Or am I barmy?
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somewhere ont'net there is a site with pictures (ok, drawings)of futuristic style cycle -superhighway "tubes", but i can't find it now...
As you say, where will it all end ? i suppose the penny will / may (?) drop one day0 -
How about this: http://www.cbrd.co.uk/histories/underways/karl j wrote:somewhere ont'net there is a site with pictures (ok, drawings)of futuristic style cycle -superhighway "tubes", but i can't find it now...
It may not have any cyclists in the diagrams, but is sure is barmy... underground double-decker grid motorways and car parks in London, anyone? (I'll just keep living out here in the boonies away from the big silly cities, thanks.)0 -
downfader wrote:
As Moyles pointed out on his podcast, you look at one clip then spend ages looking at other related clips.I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.0 -
downfader wrote:A long while ago I had this fantasy while stuck in traffic. It seemed on this particular day that every car driver had decided to weave into odd positions all over the road so I had to get off and walk - still faster than waiting in the traffic.
Then as i was doing so I thought that it would be cool to have double-decker road systems (got the idea from when I was a kid and reading Judge Dredd) where only light vehicles like bikes could use them and just whipp over busy roads. Like a motorway for bikes.
Think of those old canal bridges - the engineering and simplicity. Does make me wonder if this is how we will end up in the future with so many people still buying cars (and using them unnecessarily).
Or am I barmy?
Have you been to Milton Keynes?
Of Livingston? The latter should serve as a warning to you!!! 0 -
Milton Keynes, crikey not in about 5 years, lol!
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I do think you are barmy, for the record.
Problem with any "facility" in this country is that if its possible for it to be undermaintained, it will, and if there's a possibility of it becoming cluttered with broken glass, rubbish and leaves, overgrown plants, it will.
The advantage of sharing the roads with cars is that traffic keeps the roads pretty well swept and eventually when potholes get large enough, they need repairing for the benefit of the cars.
In fairness to MK, it does look pretty tidy and leafy when I visited.0 -
Always Tyred wrote:I do think you are barmy, for the record.
Problem with any "facility" in this country is that if its possible for it to be undermaintained, it will, and if there's a possibility of it becoming cluttered with broken glass, rubbish and leaves, overgrown plants, it will.
The advantage of sharing the roads with cars is that traffic keeps the roads pretty well swept and eventually when potholes get large enough, they need repairing for the benefit of the cars.
In fairness to MK, it does look pretty tidy and leafy when I visited.
Disadvantage is of course if it was designed to be wide enough for cycling with cars passing with plenty of room, then it is also wide enough for parking in without any penalty.
Guess it helps councils with a win-win result, allows them to draw their green lines on maps, while not inconveniencing anyone (cyclists of course don't count in the hierarchy of road users)'Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze....0 -
chuckcork wrote:Always Tyred wrote:I do think you are barmy, for the record.
Problem with any "facility" in this country is that if its possible for it to be undermaintained, it will, and if there's a possibility of it becoming cluttered with broken glass, rubbish and leaves, overgrown plants, it will.
The advantage of sharing the roads with cars is that traffic keeps the roads pretty well swept and eventually when potholes get large enough, they need repairing for the benefit of the cars.
In fairness to MK, it does look pretty tidy and leafy when I visited.
Disadvantage is of course if it was designed to be wide enough for cycling with cars passing with plenty of room, then it is also wide enough for parking in without any penalty.
Guess it helps councils with a win-win result, allows them to draw their green lines on maps, while not inconveniencing anyone (cyclists of course don't count in the hierarchy of road users)
Can't argue with that. There are cycle lanes in Edinburgh that I've cycled past on a daily basis for 3 years but which I've never actually seen.
It might be fun to become a royal pain in the ars'e for the people responsible. The FOIA is good for that. All you have to do, in theory is write to the council and start demanding their records in regard to something. Might be interesting to learn more of the raionale behind placing a bike lane either (a) under a car or (b) in the door zone.0 -
karl j wrote:somewhere ont'net there is a site with pictures (ok, drawings)of futuristic style cycle -superhighway "tubes", but i can't find it now...
http://www.velo-city.ca/_____________________
I'm part of the association!0 -
Sigh. If everyone were to pay double the income tax we might be able to overhaul the road system so it's safe, clean, fair and efficient. There just aren't the resources to do everything people want, especially when there are wildly contradictory opinions (widening roads, for example - even where it's possible it'd be an environmental catastrophe).0
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cygnet wrote:karl j wrote:somewhere ont'net there is a site with pictures (ok, drawings)of futuristic style cycle -superhighway "tubes", but i can't find it now...
http://www.velo-city.ca/
Well that surprised me! Toronto doesn't really strike me as a very 'cycling' city. Other than a few young kids riding their bikes in the suburbs, I can only remember seeing leisure cyclists down at the waterfront, in numbers similar to roller-bladers (mid-July). The TTC (Toronto Transit Commission, who run the subways, streetcars and buses in the Toronto area) don't allow bicycles on any vehicle during rush hour or when vehicles are 'heavily loaded', and don't make any exception for folders. GO (Greater Ontario Transit, longer distance buses and trains), are the same, except they now allow folding bikes (with covers) on their trains.
On the upshot, both GO and the TTC have apparently started putting bike racks on the front of their buses. Who knows what might happen there?0 -
You'll be able to be hit by a bike rather than a bus!
(nice idea, Toronto, it'd be great if it caught on)0 -
The only hitch is that it's a local architect's idea, not the City/Government's.0
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I thought somewhere in canada was looking into a vapour-ware scheme to run elevated tubes around the city just for bikes. As if that wasn't cool enough, it was going to be one way, and they were going to blow air down the tubes at 20mph so thhat you'd always have a tailwind.
WANT.
can't be bothered to google for it though cause it'll never happen.0
