Originally Posted by
Bekologist
so sorry to have conflated two brits talking about 20mph safety zones in england. seems BOTH of you'd prefer extreme traffic calming on cycle routes versus 70mph, 3 lane carriageways - that may be the source of my confusion, so sorry.
Extreme traffic calming to near bicycling speed to create more livable streets is common on both sides of the atlantic.. I do suspect both contago and razrdskutr are familiar with the distinctly british cyclist planning that considers traffic speed and volume as variables that very well indicate separation from auto and lorry traffic along higher speed, volume carriageways. I wish i could find an easy link to the diagram but i am not at my home computer.... ah, here we go - THIS understanding of traffic speeds and cyclist facilities is common among traffic management professionals across the british commonwealth ....
I'm not sure quite what point you're trying to make here. Streets in the cities usually do have a low speed limit of 20 or 30mph. Trunk roads out of town will have limits of anything up to 70mph. Obviously cycling among three lanes of traffic doing 70+ is suicidal but it doesn't seem like so much to ask to have a path worthy of the name to cycle on. Simply saying "there's a strip of concrete, it's all broken up and badly overgrown but that will have to do" while ticking the box that says "cycling provision made" doesn't really cut it.
Maybe I'm agreeing with you... I honestly have no idea.