Touring - Tight Squeeze Bridge in Japan I

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View Full Version : Tight Squeeze Bridge in Japan I

mike
09-07-01, 08:22 PM
In March, I posted about my experience bicycling in Japan. Japan is a neat place to bicycle, but some spots are terribly dangerous as the roads are very narrow and the traffic is like no other place in the world.

Here is a photo of a bridge I had to cross. It was about a mile long. I have been on more narrow bridges, but none with such viscious high speed and dense traffic.

Imagine aiming yourself through this "path" as truck after truck comes screaming at you.

The width of the bicycle/pedestrian lane is only the width of my handlebars.

See the photo in the next post as well for a shot of my bike on this path.

mike
09-07-01, 08:27 PM
Here is another view of the same bridge - this time with my bike (yes, it is a borrowed three speed, but I covered several hundred miles on it).

Notice that the width of the bicycle/pedestrian path is just about the width of my handlebars.

I only had about 1" (25.4 mm) of safety margin on each side of my handlebars.

It was terrifying to ride, but there was not enough room for me to walk my bike on this path.

Traffic was intense. I think I lost ten pounds in cold arm-pit sweat just getting across this one-mile bridge.
LittleBigMan
09-07-01, 08:55 PM
This is what we need over here in the good ol' US.

No "clotheslining" pedestrians on this path! Heck, no pedestrians either, if my bike is on the path...

chewa
09-10-01, 05:10 AM
Scary stuff Mike. I take it you walked across. (I hope)
mike
09-10-01, 06:25 AM
Originally posted by chewa
Scary stuff Mike. I take it you walked across. (I hope)

That was the really scary thing! There was not enough room for me to walk the bike. If I did, either the bike or I would hang out into traffic. There was not enough room for me and the bike to be side-by side.

While on the bike, I had to ride a perfectly straight line or else I would hit the side rail or hang out into the street! Ai yai yai!

It was truly a hair raising experience.