General Road and Highway Discussion

[danbrotherston]

My main issue with MUTs is that you've just replaced the car/bike conflict with a bike/pedestrian conflict. It can work in the same way biking on the street works - low speed, low volume. It's a good choice for along arterials like this, but in busy areas they generally don't serve either pedestrians or cyclists well.

My main issue with the way we build MUTs in WR are that they don't seem to know how to deal with them at either signalized intersections or roundabouts. Its inconsistent and usually relies on a cyclist to dismount or break the law.

It also appears that the more recent roads where they are putting in MUTs no longer have painted bike lanes. The downside to this is that most "sport cyclists" are going to be travelling 30+ km/h and will not want to be on a shared path (nor should they for obvious safety reasons; in fact, many places are putting ~20 km/h speed limits on their MUTs). So these cyclists will be back in the general lanes, which isn't good for anyone.

I think the current practice of using MUTs is a good step towards proper separated infrastructure. All they need is a sidewalk next to the MUT and proper treatment at intersections, and the MUT can be a high quality, 3m unidirectional cycle path.

This is exactly on point, bears repeating.  MUTs work in low traffic areas, but higher traffic areas (Iron Horse Trail) see a lot of conflicts (and a lot of resulting complaining).

Sport cyclists do not like them because they become a danger and are slowed down.

Intersections right now are a complete failure, on the border of entrapment frankly.  If I ever got a ticket, I'd fight it in court.

And, generally designs are just poor with uneven surfaces (no need for curbs like we have on them).

Here's an example of a particularly egregious (and brand new) example on King:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.4946633,-...312!8i6656

You'll note this is the MUT that the cyclist who was killed was not using.  I wonder if intersections like this contributed to his choice to use the traffic lanes instead.  Frankly, at this intersection, one would wonder if cyclists are even allowed to use this infrastructure.