General Road and Highway Discussion

[highlander]

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.