The Boring Company | Tunnels

Engineering convention puts tunnelling as the most expensive way to build infrastructure - for example the Boston big dig cost 1 Billion dollars per mile - the kinds of costs only car drivers can ( and do ) consider. 

Elon Musk claims he can cut the cost drastically - by speeding up the tunnelling process and reducing the cross section. 

Normally I would dismiss tunnels for bikes as unstimulating, you have to go down and up - but they are dry and could go any where. Something perhaps to be part of a mix. 

What do you think

Dissing + Weitling completes "world's longest" elevated cycling path in ...

Dissing + Weitling - Brilliant and Expensive elevated cycling in China. 

This is a good example of how traditional civil engineering handles cycle lanes - as large expensive pedestrian routes. Think of this as a very long cycle bridge. 

We need smarter thinking. 

The Death And Rebirth Of Bike Highways - Cheddar Explains

A new summary about bike highways and a short history of the elevated cycles. 

हवा में लटकती हुई साइकिल | We Made Hanging In Air Bicycle | Crazy Idea

This experiment shows to me, at the limit,  how thin you could go with an elevated cycle 'wire'. This cycle cable system has been proposed before. This one is clearly used for one one rider,  a real system would have to be strong enough for back to back bikes. IF you look the bike is riding on a rope. 

While this is good as an engineering test and shows off how unobtrusive an elevated system could be it looses the advantage of previous 'sky only' systems and combination systems. A sky only system could hang from one cable ( but never cover the last 100 yards to work ). A combination system would also you to cycle to and from the station. 

Still nice to see people still being enthusiastic.

How to Build a City Around Bikes, Fast

Bloomberg Quick takes gives nice overview of cycling. 

A good example is Seville who had the smart idea of building integrated network rather than isolated fragments of quality road. 

You will notice it sots them $20 million to make 80km of cycle network getting 77,00 people per day. Over $900 million for 18Km of  metro track for 44,000 people per day. Although I will point out this typically requires removing space from cars- who start to object.

Biking Montreal: Montreal's Newest Bicycling Infrastructure Dazzles!

One of the aspects that have emerged with the pandemic is the growing shift in focus towards cycling. 

This example from Montreal shows the economic rebound linked with cycling infrastructure. 

(19) Utrecht: Planning for People & Bikes, Not for Cars - YouTube

(19) Utrecht: Planning for People & Bikes, Not for Cars - YouTube

I've cycled in Utrecht - it's very flat. As you can see from the video if you have segregated cycle routes you can create a fabulous popular, zero carbon, healthy, dense high capacity travel route. 

I liked the cycle streets - letting the cars (safely )  on the cycle strips. It helps solve the problem of surrounding buildings with cycling access ( good ) but isolating a building from say Ambulance access ( bad). 

Paris is young again.

Paris is young again.

By @schlijper pic.twitter.com/ssWL09f5J7

— createstreets (@createstreets) July 21, 2020

This is an amazing video that I never thought would happen. Around the UK and clearly Paris there is a movement to come out of lockdown with more space given over to cycling. 

here is hoping it's going to last.