I'd like to know the added cost for the 'safe' intersection (and YES, for the record, I'm an avid cyclist).
What is the cost of the extra TWSI's, the Bike Streetlights, the sensors, the bike slip lanes, AND upkeep/snow plowing over 30 years? Compared to a basic intersection.
I find City signage to be so insanely overdesigned as to be obscene in some cases. (O'Connor and Isabella and it's SIXTY-FIVE road signs and EIGHT lamps).
Not to mention, these little zig-zaggy f*cking bike lanes at intersections are the biggest headache to navigate on a bike. For me it turns into a series of ramps and jumps. Heck, on Laurier at Bay I've resorted to biking in traffic to avoid falling off my bike and breaking my arm for all the ramps and flippy-dip jumps. I'm not sure if anyone has biked before who designed these layouts. Similar (or worse) than pedestrians... cyclists prefer to bike in a straight goddam line 99.9% of the time.
Old man rant: And another thing! Pedestrians walk in a straight line also! I've never seen a pedestrian approach one of these intersections without walking through the bike area totally clueless. In a busy environment, these intersections: 1. Don't work efficiently. 2. Are a pain to upkeep (expensive). 3. Are confusing to drivers (honestly why are the bike signals the same scale and close to car signals).
Can we just get a simple, 1.2m wide, grade-separated bike lane, approaching the intersection in a straight line alongside the sidewalk, with a simple curb depression adjacent to the sidewalk, and then a painted lane through the intersection, with a small bike signal either attached to, or just adjacent to the walk signal. I've seen one jurisdiction (is it Montreal? New York? with small red/yellow/green bulbs just above the button to cross) Is that too much to ask? Or are we solving for side-swipes by making cost and headache a bigger issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TransitZilla
Why are you making this (unfounded) assumption that the thing that is driving the cost here is the bike infrastructure?
The Bike Ottawa article literally shows the designed layout from 2023, in which the underpass contained 3 car lanes, and no bike lanes at all! (In fact, the Earl Grey/Didsbury intersection is shown to feature a 2-lane slip lane without even a crosswalk!)
I'm not sure whether the project is worth the cost, but at least the final design is far better for pedestrians and cyclists now compared to the 2023 version (and it makes the underpass no wider than the previous version).
I find your position on bike infrastructure to be puzzling. I don't think it's an "ideology" that roads should be designed to be safe for all users.
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