06-06-2020, 01:48 PM
(06-06-2020, 01:19 PM)tomh009 Wrote:(06-05-2020, 09:32 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Unfortunately, I cannot find the site I (and others) sent to the regional engineers years ago. Here's an article mentioning these tramway flanges used in Zurich https://www.streetfilms.org/cyclists-vs-...in-zurich/ , but it is not a link to an english site.
Unfortunately, as I understand it, the price would be very high, it needs to be embedded in the track, it basically replaces the existing embedded rubber...I'll call it a gasket...surrounding the track, as a result, the products I am aware of would require ripping up all the concrete around the tracks...this would be rather expensive. It's possible a different product is available or could be developed to retrofit into the flangeway but I am not aware of any such product.
The best I think could be reasonably accomplished would be something like the top right of page 13 on this document: https://altaplanning.com/wp-content/uplo...o_ALTA.pdf
That could be accomplished with paint and a sign, if we were willing to rework some surface concrete that could be even better. It's not ideal, the sidewalk is poorly suited as a MUT, it's too narrow, and the intersection is terrible. But that ship has sailed, we are stuck with that unfortunate poor design. But with a little paint and a sign it could be miles better.
Thanks. Yeah, it's not promising. I found a discussion of this in a Seattle bike blog page (link below), and they said it's not very effective. It's expensive ($1M/km -- although using it only in selected areas would not be so bad), doesn't eliminate wheel jamming issues, and it has to be replaced regularly.
https://www.seattlebikeblog.com/2015/03/...le-biking/
Paint and sign seems like the best option at this point. Not everyone will pay attention but it should significantly mitigate the problem.
Yes, the cost is clearly a non-issue when it comes to our conditions which have only a few dozen meters of track in a conflict zone.
I definitely prefer a separation scenario as well, I wish they had actually built cycling infra in this area.
In my experience it's especially dangerous since in order to cross the tracks at a good angle a cyclist must move right, before swinging left, there is no more dangerous behaviour a cyclist could do than to move right, then swerve left with a downhill driver bearing down on them.
I stand behind my statements on this topic.