Most bizarre place to put a cycle lane?

Grolschevik

Going south on the M50 today and getting off at the Ballymun exit. Going up the slip road, I noticed what looks like a brand new stretch of cycle lane. It started near the top of the slip road and went on down towards Ballymun for a hundred yards or so.

Where did they think the cyclists would be (legally) coming from? Or was it just that they accidentally took out a load of pink tarmac and thought they might as well use it?

Map link and pic attached, hopefully...

http://maps.google.ie/maps?hl=en&ll=53.409059,-6.265973&spn=0.00337,0.006877&t=k&z=17&vpsrc=6

Grolschevik

Should this be in the "Roads" forum, which I've only just discovered exists?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1394

Big Nasty

Grolschevik wrote: »

Should this be in the "Roads" forum, which I've only just discovered exists?

First I've heard of this roads forum myself, but I'm glad to hear it!

Somewhere for all the roundabout threads to go to.

Take note Mods!

Cuddlesworth

You can see from google street view that its for bikes crossing over the m50, over the bridge/roundabout and then entering at a light controlled junction half way up the slip road. Whats the issue?

Grolschevik

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You can see from google street view that its for bikes crossing over the m50, over the bridge/roundabout and then entering at a light controlled junction half way up the slip road. Whats the issue?

The issue is, I missed that! Never thought of checking Street View.
And after all the feckin' trouble I went to to take a screen-shot and upload it...

Paarse Krokodil

For quite a long time there has been a cycle lane in Fermoy, leading to a main road and only covering a small part of the outskirts of the town. I'm never quite sure why it was put there

Yup, I think the idea is something like this:



That hedgemaze looks cool though.

On the topic of cycle lanes being in bizarre places/being bizarre, hop on your bike and you'll undoubtedly see lots more of them within a very short timeframe in any town/city in the country.

passive

Dónal wrote: »

That hedgemaze looks cool though.

Haha, well spotted! I wonder what the story is with that...

Grolschevik

Hey, do I get the "OP in Motors forum admits mistake shocker!" headline?

conzy

Heres a good one on the Freshford road in Kilkenny.. Theres only a cycle lane on one side of the road. But you often see cyclists going in the direction of the arrow crossing onto the wrong side of the road to use that cycle lane and theres a bad blind bend in the red circle.. And thats quite a steep hill, its only a matter of time before two cyclists collide or they swerve to avoid each other and end up in front of a car..



Should they squeeze in another lane? Or should cyclists going up the hill just use the left hand side of the road with no cycle lane

boyler07

There's weird one in front of Bank of America in Carrick-on-Shannon, it takes up way too much of the road, I'll get a pic and post it up.

Alanstrainor

MCMLXXV wrote: »

First I've heard of this roads forum myself, but I'm glad to hear it!

Somewhere for all the roundabout threads to go to.

Take note Mods!

Noted!

Moved from Motors.

Anjobe

In the main street in Maynooth, the cycle lane runs right down the middle of the footpath. I particularly like the way it takes a curved detour round the front door of the pub!

L1011

maynooth's full of surreal cycle lane problems. Town has about 5km of them and they mostly don't join up! Special mention to the 4 metre one at Greene's

marmurr1916

Not just an Irish problem. This one's a beauty:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/oct/20/crap-cycle-lanes#/?picture=354515426&index=0

ardmacha

In terms of weird and wonderful cycle lanes our neighbours in Britain do it better.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pete.meg/wcc/facility-of-the-month/index.htm

for instance

galwaycyclist

conzymaher wrote: »

Heres a good one on the Freshford road in Kilkenny.. Theres only a cycle lane on one side of the road. But you often see cyclists going in the direction of the arrow crossing onto the wrong side of the road to use that cycle lane and theres a bad blind bend in the red circle.. And thats quite a steep hill, its only a matter of time before two cyclists collide or they swerve to avoid each other and end up in front of a car..



Should they squeeze in another lane? Or should cyclists going up the hill just use the left hand side of the road with no cycle lane

Yes the cyclists should use the traffic lanes going in their intended direction. In Ireland this means using the lanes on the left hand side of the road. Using a cycle lane to cycle on the wrong side of the road is one of the more idiotic things you can do on a bike and is associated with an up to 12 fold increase of getting hit by a car at any junction you cross. (Junctions alread account for 75% of cycle/car collisions)

You should not mark any cycle lanes unless there is enough room for them - they need to be at least 2m wide.

If this is a steep hill then you could make a case for having a cycle lane, or probably even better a hard shoulder, on the ascent as that is where cyclists might benefit most from the separation. On the descent you may be as well off keeping the lane mixed as the cyclists will travelling at speed anyway.

<sarcasm switch on>
While I should probably bite my tongue, the knee jerk reaction to this design is that the boys and girls in Kilkenny county council need to do a course in the whole "up" versus "down" thing. And maybe the "gravity" concept if they show signs of understanding relative directions.
<sarcasm switch off>

This maybe an unfair comment without further information.