More bike lane fun (Bowness Road Bike Lanes)

[J-D]

Before:

Olson said that makes the road a “good candidate” for taking the current four lanes of motor-vehicle traffic down to three and adding the bike lanes, which would also serve as a traffic-calming measure

http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/976...an-goes-ahead/

After:

http://www.660news.com/2014/10/26/bi...g-to-resident/

He drove the road a few times last week. “Not one bike went by the entire time. I don’t really have a problem with bike lanes. There is a place for them, but definitely not that road”.

He said drivers on the route, which has typically been an easy drive, have been waiting an extra 20 minutes in stop and go traffic since the lanes have been added.

[rx7_turbo2]

Nothing is even in the same league as the absolute nightmare they turned Northland Drive into. I can't wait for the first big snow storm, snow covered concrete islands 10' into normal driving lanes should prove formidable to motorists and plow drivers. $575,000 well spent. I know this summer and fall I've seen, well, zero cyclists using the lanes, but hey I only drive that stretch twice a day, 5 days a week during rush hour so.......

[J-D]

Originally posted by rx7_turbo2
Nothing is even in the same league as the absolute nightmare they turned Northland Drive into. I can't wait for the first big snow storm, snow covered concrete islands 10' into normal driving lanes should prove formidable to motorists and plow drivers. $575,000 well spent. I know this summer and fall I've seen, well, zero cyclists using the lanes, but hey I only drive that stretch twice a day, 5 days a week during rush hour so.......

Where does that one even go? I can't imagine what the hell it connects to.

[speedog]

Originally posted by J-D
Where does that one even go? I can't imagine what the hell it connects to.

Not that I support what's been done on Northland Drive but the south end feeds into a bicycle path that hooks up to 37th Street NW which goes directly to the U of C. The north end fits into the regional pathways and bikeways on or along Dalhousie Drive. Poke around the CoC's interactive map at this link - you'll have to turn on some options to see what I mean. Of note, I have seen cyclists on Northland Drive in the reserved lanes during the summer months - not many but they were there. To me though, the money would have been better spent on a dedicated path on the west and south side of the Northland Mall complex in the grassy areas adjacent to Crowchild and Shag - would've provided the same connectivity and probably in a safer fashion for cyclists and would've tied in nicely to the eventual new pedestrian overpass over Shag north of Crowchild.

[NoMoreG35]

Originally posted by rx7_turbo2
Nothing is even in the same league as the absolute nightmare they turned Northland Drive into. I can't wait for the first big snow storm, snow covered concrete islands 10' into normal driving lanes should prove formidable to motorists and plow drivers. $575,000 well spent. I know this summer and fall I've seen, well, zero cyclists using the lanes, but hey I only drive that stretch twice a day, 5 days a week during rush hour so.......

I can't agree more. I had to go thru that bullshit like 20 times a day when I worked at NLVW.

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by speedog

Not that I support what's been done on Northland Drive but the south end feeds into a bicycle path that hooks up to 37th Street NW which goes directly to the U of C. The north end fits into the regional pathways and bikeways on or along Dalhousie Drive. Poke around the CoC's interactive map at this link - you'll have to turn on some options to see what I mean. Of note, I have seen cyclists on Northland Drive in the reserved lanes during the summer months - not many but they were there. To me though, the money would have been better spent on a dedicated path on the west and south side of the Northland Mall complex in the grassy areas adjacent to Crowchild and Shag - would've provided the same connectivity and probably in a safer fashion for cyclists and would've tied in nicely to the eventual new pedestrian overpass over Shag north of Crowchild.

If all you look at is an aerial view I can see what the thinking was. In real life it just doesn't work. It doesn't really provide access to anything. I've lived in the area for 30+ years. If I want to cycle to Brentwood Station there are better routes. If I want to get to Dalhousie Station there are existing paths and better routes. Access to UofC? This I can agree with, but how many UofC students are cycling that route to justify the inconvenience and cost?

That pedestrian overpass over Shag is 15 years overdue, I've see some close calls with pedestrians over the years. At the rate it's taking them to build it though it'll be another 15 years before its done.

[schocker]

The city does lots of studies obviously. That is why the new bike lane on 10th street backs traffic up the hill past 16th. It is amazingggggggggg. Almost as bad as 8th street with it's non exisistent enmax. No one on friday all day, just cables on the ground walking to the office, on the way back to the car in the evening still no enmax, still the same cables on the road

[suntan]

Been driving on Memorial in the mornings. Saw 10 cyclists on Friday. Saw 3 today. Yippee.

[darthVWader]

Bowness road is now a complete one lane shit show(fully paved now). Did manage to see three cyclist use the new lane.

[J-D]

Originally posted by suntan
Been driving on Memorial in the mornings. Saw 10 cyclists on Friday. Saw 3 today. Yippee.

Last Friday I actually saw a ridiculous amount of cyclists downtown, I don't think I've ever seen so many in my life.

[suntan]

15?

[schocker]

http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation...t-Project.aspx

The best part is how all of these including 10th street are 'Improvements' Improvements is implying that something has gotten better


If there is a bus wait behind or pull around if safe, but watch out as cyclists will just drive around the bus

[J-D]

Originally posted by suntan
15?

Probably like 25. 15 of them were on the sidewalk

[soupey]

I don't get why the northland one didn't offer a bus lane for the whole length of the bike passage...they can get to Churchill highschool but then still need to merge out and back in to get on to shag...whole concept doesn't make sense to me...completely underutilized space now vs before.

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by soupey
I don't get why the northland one didn't offer a bus lane for the whole length of the bike passage...they can get to Churchill highschool but then still need to merge out and back in to get on to shag...whole concept doesn't make sense to me...completely underutilized space now vs before.

I wrote a big diatribe speculating why it was designed the way it was, then came to the conclusion the easiest explanation is probably the right one. Whoever designed it is a fucking idiot.

[coldmind]

Why can't they erect temporary concrete barrier for bike lanes during the summer months only. When Winter comes just take out concrete barriers as there are less ppl biking during Winter months.

[Skidro]

Sorry no logic allowed when dealing with cyclists

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by coldmind
Why can't they erect temporary concrete barrier for bike lanes during the summer months only. When Winter comes just take out concrete barriers as there are less ppl biking during Winter months.

It's because bike lanes don't seem to have anything to do with improving mobility for cyclists and everything to do with making driving an automobile as frustrating as possible.

[suntan]

Yeah, it's not really pro-bike as it is anti-car.

[schocker]

Originally posted by suntan
Yeah, it's not really pro-bike as it is anti-car.

Oh the city said in the sun article about bowness that they are not anticar but about allowing people to get around in as many ways as possible
Yeah sure.