Quote:
Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark
Thanks for the analysis. I agree that Option 1 sounds like a better alternative than Option 2.
I had been wondering if it might have been more advantageous to just build an "off ramp" further up the span that would meet street level to the northeast of Lorne Terrace. This would also avoid interaction with traffic, etc., but there would still be a hill to climb after exiting the bridge. I would think that, being shorter and less elaborate, it could save significant budget to be invested in other areas of cycling infrastructure. No idea as to whether it was ever considered, or what would be the reasons for not doing it this way.
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Unless I'm misunderstanding you, that is in effect what Option 2 was. It is a challenge though, because it still crosses two lanes of traffic, and then the ramp has to land where the sidewalk is, because there is no room except the sidewalk between the traffic lanes and the security fence of the base. It also creates additional security issues for DND.
I'm pretty sure that the "climbing the hill" was never the issue discussed. The issue was that making cyclists go down the hill, cross over three lanes of relatively unforgiving traffic (I've done it enough to know that) and then come back up was going to discourage use of the bridge bike lane and the network as a whole. The "coming back up" was seized upon by certain people and turned into "bicycles can't go up hills, ha ha..."
In my mind the question comes down to the fact that we've already put a lot of money into adding both proper bike and walk ways when we redid the bridge. However, the connections on both sides haven't been finished. Is the additional expense to do that worth it? As a resident of the outer suburbs who currently mostly drives but tries to use my E-Bike, I say the cost is definitely worth it.
This doesn't really belong in this thread because the bridge will be relatively well connected to Cogswell by the existing bicycle lane along Barrington, although the Barrington and North intersection will still be a pain. *Sorry*