In three projects that I am working on in some capacity at the moment (one related to NZTA, one related to Council, and one related to a private developer), I am currently posed with essentially the same question: How to control cyclist speeds on a steep downhill slope, where cyclists use a shared path together with pedestrians? Without forcing the cyclists to dismount, or endangering them, of course.
As CAA’s infrastructure advisor, you will normally find me supporting off-road paths wherever I can, though I realise the idea doesn’t fit all environments.
And similarly here, my gut reaction is “Cyclists are no more hoons (on average) than motorists – it will be fine!” – but we need to acknowledge that pedestrians can feel (and be) endangered by cyclists that ride too fast on a shared path. Some do it for the downhill thrill, others don’t care about the rest of the world, and others simply let their bike get away from them a bit, not realising (like some motorists) that braking isn’t instant, that even good attention doesn’t override inertia.
We don’t want to see that – but we don’t want to see that either (on a path shared with pedestrians)(second image adapted from copyright CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons user: Jerónimo37)
So the question I would like to pose to you is: How do we slow downhill cyclists to manageable, safe speeds without being too restrictive about it? Give me some of your ideas, and don’t let yourself be bound by your initial ideas, or those of others (including mine). Just do a bit of brainstorming, or tell us about how you have seen it done (well) elsewhere.
[Max is the grandly-named "Infrastructure Liaison" of Cycle Action Auckland. It was that or call himself "The Infrastructure Guy"]
Max, one of the obvious things is bends, if the cyclist has to corner, they will slow, if you take the example of the Devonport “green route” not much of it is straight and cyclists do tend to take it at a leisurely pace
the other thing is visibility over a distance, if the downhill bend has a nice big bush on the inside, so you can’t see around the corner, again the cyclist should slow
so it’s pretty much about providing an environment that encourages prudence, compared to the usual traffic engineer’s tautological approach of “the driver is an idiot, so we’ll treat them like an idiot and so they generally respond and act like idiots”. That’s probably a slander on good traffic engineers, but it seems to be the approach used to design many roads here in Auckland
so give the cyclist the cues as to how you want them to behave and they should respond intelligently
Same as cars, narrow the cycle path? Subconciously they will slow down.
Japanese have cuts on the roads that are different distances apart. When you drive over them at the “correct” speed a well known tune is revealed. Too fast and the tune speeds up, too slow…. You get the idea. Could do the same for bike paths
I’m not so sure about cutting down lines of sight as SteveC suggests as it might lead to nasty surprises when you do get someone hooning.
How about roughening the surface? Works for cars.
A down hill is of course an uphill on the flipside, so you do not want to make it too difficult for that, but I would say chicanes would work. No need to be high, but difficult to ride over so you have to go through.
Bike Victoria gives a pretty sensible overview on their information sheet Hills Gradients and Slopes for off-road paths
http://www.bv.com.au/general/bike-futures/91988/
Hi Kirsten, sadly the guidance and the BikeVic site seem to not spend much time on interaction with pedestrians, for which I had hoped for more advice. Keeping a fast cyclist in control is one thing, reducing the “outlier” extreme speeds is a quite different one…
Keep the comments going, I will discuss them and my own thoughts in a while.
Kirsten, that is fantastic! We should take a leaf out of there book. A bit hard (and expensive) to limit gradients at 5% on cycle paths, but I think it is preferable to ride a longer distance at a shallower gradient than to ride up a steep path! It would slow people down on the way down too!
I know it probably wouldnt be that effective but would a simple sign saying “Careful, pedestrians” or suchlike help at all? Just assuming that you have no money for these projects so trying to think of really cheap things…
Also the kind of traffic control they did in Pt England where they put little islands in to narrow down the roads. Could have shrubs but they need to be low – trees grow out into the path and whap you, ala, parts of the North Western.
sorry David the “rough” surfaces (if I’m right in thinking you’re referring to the ones with a tan/beige colour) are high friction surfaces to aid braking or to prevent cars from sliding off the road on crners
I like the idea of bikes playing a tune! but the neighbours would inevitably object,
my examples may not have been well chosen, what I was suggesting was creating an environment on the lane or path where speeds were naturally controlled by design features, not by signs or stiles
@Lucy – you just need the right attitude.
Those trees and shrubs on the Northwestern? *I* whap at *them*, not vice versa. Or I sic Council at them to prune them back*! Take that, you shrubs! A few more millennia of me doing that, and you should evolve far enough to know not to grow over cycle paths!
In a more serious vein, I will discuss some of the answers and ideas later this weekend.
*Which is easy to do via the Council website:
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/AboutCouncil/ContactUs/Pages/Home.aspx
SteveC, I was thinking more of cobblestone-type surfaces that create a bit of a bumpy ride.
maybe David, but we want to encourage cyclists, not force them onto full suspension rigs!