Rochester

This looks to be an interesting enclosed at grade system in Rochester ( Canada )



It's quite simple but is based on an abandoned rail route.

Fast Lane Cyclery And Cycle motorway interview.

Thanks to a kind reader leaving a comment 


Interview with Fast Lane Cyclery in the examiner. 
I think the motoway/freeway concept is a good metaphor. You don't have motorways everywhere and in cities the only way to introduce them is to elevate them ( at considerable expense ) . Motoways are smooth roads designed for high speed use and have intersections at different gradients (heights). You have on/off ramps at intervals and most of all you have very low gradient changes and cut through mountains and build up roads to do it. 


Worth a read. 

Christopher Rusay

Lovely elevated system I found as a competition entry by Chrstopher Rusay and Pariq Visop. 
Actually the best entry in my thinking ( have a look at some of the others see what you think ). Wonderfully modular and colourful and made from recycled materials. Does make you think about what you could achieve if you use plastic as a building materials. Inspired by the California Cycleway of 1900, a wooden elevated bike path (link elsewhere on the blog). 


I love the elegance of the system. I'd still put something over people's heads my self(OK I'm a pureist ) .  

top marks.

Bike lane tax

One of the questions that arrises is how would one pay for an elevated cycle network.

I checked this debate about taxing cyclists. What  Road Tax for cars pays for is very little but that varies from country to country, in most western counties buses and trains get some subsidy (up to 50%) but most drivers don't realise is that they also effectively get a subsidy to their road tax- that is the road tax doesn't cover cover 100% of what is spent on roads. As I said this varies alot so it's hard to draw a complete moral from this.

What road taxes do, do is make car drivers feel they should get something for their money. If people started to park lorries and trains in the middle of a motorway/free way they would more than gripe about it - it would effect the way they vote.

As for taxes - why not charge a low tax for effectively using the high speed cycle freeway/highway/motorway/autobarn that an elevated cycle lane would be. I'm in favour of £20 unlimited use for the year.

While you don't want to charge initially for the first few Elevated cycle lanes, I think that once people got a taste for cutting their commute time to work they might be willing to pay for it.

Another re invention

Red line ideas a website of adorable inventions sports this brief description of an elevate cycle route. No pictures but a very agreeably taciturn description.
The is good for the attention to both policing and a perfect cycle surface.

Worth a check out

Bicycle Highways

Tom Vanderblit writes on cycle super highways. Worth a read. 

Supercyclehighway

Interesting comment from Colin Buchanan about some super cycle highway plans. I think what makes them super was all the training for cyclists they where including ( along with blue paint).

Do you think transport planners in poor countries that can't afford to build any motorways/freeways sit around saying.
" if we wanted to get more people on the roads the most cost effective thing is to provide some car driving training 'to the right kind of people' people who don't drive but might drive with a little help." or
"Its a long way to go to the kinds of motorways they have in the US but the US has been building roads for 100 years".

Sorry that sounds more sarcastic than I intended.

Colin is a realist trying to do what he can do with the tiny sums he can get hold of, which I'm please to know he's out there.

Colin makes a good point saying this is a zero sum game at the moment. If we want more facilities (road space)  for cyclists it has to prised from the tight grip of the motorists who loose space.

I would argue that it doesn't have to be that way. There is a third way which means we don't have to take from motorists while building up the cyclists population to reach critical mass. By going up ( or more expensively down) then we can by pass this problem. Studies of PRT have shown that PRT systems can be cheaper than setting up a bus system. I believe with the right engineering design we can make a very cheap (relatively) elevated cycle lane. Yes it will be more expensive than just painting a bit of road blue and giving some lesssons in school but the rewards would be well worth while.

All I argue for is that the case is strong enough to justify  the tiny (relatively) money to build a demo system then letting a well done system speak for its self.

Trondheim - so cool

One of the things that I believe a good elevated system needs is the ability to increase flow in areas of high gradient. This could be getting people on to the system, or dealing with the worst hills.
This system from Norway shows how it cold be done.

Even without an elevated system we need to see many more of these Trondheim like systems all over ( I could think of five places near me that could do with one).