Cycling in Waterloo Region

[Pheidippides]

Looking back at the materials it is clear that the roll-over curb was always the plan:

"mountable roll-over curbs to improve pedestrian mobility and cycling access to/from the bike lanes"
"offroad segregated bike lanes separated from traffic by a mountable concrete curb."

I guess I am feeling disappointed in myself that I did not pay attention enough during the consultations to notice such a glaring design flaw and bring my concerns forward. At the same time when you see language like this it is easy to see why the issue was not clear:

What will stop cars from encroaching into the bike lanes, and what will stop cyclists from encroaching onto the sidewalk?

"On both sides of King Street N, the segregated bike lanes will be elevated from the road surface, and have a curb on the outer edge to physically delineate the space for cyclists only. The lanes may be further delineated with a painted surface. East side parking stalls will also separate that bike lane from the flow of traffic..."

Was this issue noticed and brought forward by others in their feedback and the feedback simply ignored?

Interestingly, part of the decision may have been related to access needed by Fire Services:
"At the time of this report, the current width allocation serving each mode of transportation, as intended, provides space requirements for the travel, staging and set-up of emergency vehicles made possible by the South-bound roll-over curb and gutter and the segregated bike lane."

I think for myself I was probably just too excited about the project actually happening that when I heard segregated/separated I assumed protected. Or maybe it was a case of settling (i.e. it is light-years ahead of what we have so just take what we can get).

My biggest fear at the moment, other than someone getting hurt or killed because of the design, is that no one will use them because they are unsafe and that this lack of use will be used as evidence against building further actual-protected lanes for cycling.

As for potential fixes at this stage I think there are two possible solutions:

1) Install parking chock type curbs along the roadside edge of the lane - depending upon the intended flow of drainage this might not be possible.

2) Install those flexible lane divider poles along the roadside edge of the lane - this would involve drilling them in to the fresh concrete which will create cracks for water/ice to break up the concrete and shorten the life of the lane

Painting the lanes a more noticeable colour (lime green?) should probably be done as well (if it doesn't make the slippery).