Originally Posted by
danarnold
Sidewalk = multiple use path, aka 'MUP.'
Think about it. A MUP is a sidewalk. A sidewalk is a path allowing multiple uses.
But even dedicated bike only paths become de facto MUPs. And that is the way it will stay until cyclists outnumber pedestrians and all other users. Even then I predict there will be sufficient skate boarders, roller skaters, inline skaters, pedestrians and dog walkers to keep cyclists from riding fast on those paths more safely than they do in the streets.
Some sidewalks do work that way... others are so crowded with poles, and electric boxes and bushes and people and other stuff that they barely function as sideWALKs. Same with some MUPs... narrow doesn't work well. There is such a variation in BL, sidewalks and MUPs that we simply cannot declare that they do or don't work.
In my area I even have MUPs that have stairs... some cyclists still go that route. We also have the opposite, a near perfect bike highway that has seen far more bike traffic now than when there was a shareable road before (road was widened and turned into a limited access freeway, path parallels new freeway).
There are no perfect answers, but the one thing that is undeniable is that when an area is made less auto centric, and more comfortable for cyclists and pedestrians, people do chose those other modes to travel.
As long as a traveled way looks like something best suited for a car, people will tend to only drive. It's the old saying "of if you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail."