canklecat

Interesting article on Barcelona's "superblocks" engineering solution to create safer accessibility for pedestrians and bicycles.

I can see this concept being adaptable to some downtown areas. To some extent our city has gently leaned toward something similar, although without the considerably slower posted speed limits.

KD5NRH

At 10 km/hr, a lot of cyclists aren't going fast enough to be stable, and plenty of runners could get a speeding ticket.

Now, if that limit applied only to motor vehicles, and there were clear bike through-paths with right of way priority, no "short loop" restrictions and at least a 20km/hr limit, then you'd have a design that truly promotes utility cycling.

Put it this way; when I hop on the 7100 for a grocery run or work commute, I tend to average about 12mph. If I had to choose between going half that or taking a busy road, I'd drive instead. There's no point in cycling at walking speed, and constantly fighting traffic adds stress that takes away from the enjoyment of a ride. Putting cycle-priority paths through basically makes the "superblocks" sections of a near-ideal bike route, and crossing a busy street at a signalized intersection every three blocks beats the heck out of having to make the entire ride on one.

B. Carfree

Two things:
First of all, Lubbock TX has had this mostly in place for decades. Every ninth street one direction and every twelfth the other (or some such; haven't been there in years) is a main street (six to nine lanes). The core of those rectangles have no streets that go through for cars, but do have complete access and cut-throughs for cyclists and pedestrians. What has this done for cycling in Lubbock? Not much. There's a lot more to getting bums into saddles than the last or first few blocks.

Which brings me to the second problem: If these are truly going to encourage cycling, there have to be efficient crossings between these superblocks for people on bikes. If you have to wait and wait and wait for a gap in the busier than ever border streets, it's going to fail and look more like Lubbock than anything else.

KD5NRH

I think I see the problem.

Stadjer

People who can't balance their bike under 10 km/h or even 5 km/h shouldn't be on one. City cycling presumes competent cyclists. 10 km/h is a reasonable average speed within a crowded area full op pedestrians. I think the idea is that you would be much slower if you took a car, because cars aren't as agile and you have to find a parking space etc.

Also Barcelona is extremely compact, it has about 1.5 million inhabitants, but you could walk from the seaside to the other end of the city in 45 minutes, in the Spanish summer heat, at a leisurly pace. It's all about travel time, not distance, and time from the shop entry to your couch at home, not the time from starting your car that was parked somewhere near your home, to arriving at the shop but still have to park the car. The idea that you can cycle at the speed you desire is not realistic in a city with mass cycling. In a normal bike trip in a cycling city you can get up to speed, but often not near your destination or location you went from. Just as car have to slow down when they approach a city, cyclists have when they approach a street with pedestrians.

JoeyBike

I like it. Good idea. All it will take is one generation of kids enjoying some breathing room to expand on this idea. Of course...nothing is perfect when retro-fitting a city, but this is a nice start.

The French Quarter in New Orleans has a similar capability and it is implemented on weekends, holidays, and certain evenings. NOLA handles this with some street closures, and all of the surrounding streets are one-way which creates a situation where only people with real business in the area would dare drive near the center of the human activity. Our "superblock" covers roughly 24 square blocks in a 2x12 block rectangle.

B. Carfree

I lived in Lubbock for one month. That was the longest two decades of my life.