Sometimes I come across bike infrastructure that’s so out-of-step with its surroundings, so outlandish in its execution and so downright weird that I can’t help but wonder: Who builds this stuff?
In this video, I explore five pieces of bizarro bike infrastructure in my city (Calgary, Canada), and then think more deeply about how they came to exist.
Thank you to everyone in the community who made suggestions on the weirdest bike infrastructure in the city. And if you have something particularly oddball where you live, please share it.
0:00 Introduction
1:13 The corkscrew overpass. WEIRD!
1:41 Two-way to one-way and back. WEIRD!
2:41 The flood-prone pathway. WEIRD!
3:25 The disappearing bike lane. WEIRD!
4:02 The crosswalk to nowhere. WEIRD!
5:07 What’s really going on with these things?
9:06 How our cities can do better
#cycling #bike #commuting
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31 Comments
In NE Calgary the city put in some park land by the major North South highway, apparently designed to allow people in the factories nearby to go for walks at lunchtime. There are trees planted and some paths. And people do use it at lunchtime. There is a short path that connects two quiet streets. But the parks people didn't want to put ramps to make it easy to get onto that path about 80 M long, "in case" bikes interfered with pedestrians. During commuting hours, I've seen exactly one person on that path in 8 years. That was purposeful pig-headed stupidity. Plenty of space, cyclists and pedestrians use the roads and path at different times of the day.
Where I live, in Sweden, there is a bike "highway" between two cities. But you have to cross the road several times to the other side just to continue on the bike lane. Why? Because the farmers that own the fields on either side off the road was forced to give up some land for the bike lane and it is evenly spaced between the different farmers.
This was one of your loudest videos yet. Reinforces something I heard on NJB.
But we need those 4 car lanes!!!1! at least!!!1 how else should people travel in a city?!!!?
There are several “Copenhagen left” in Bordeaux, France as well: https://youtu.be/GATWmU2Dnpo?si=rlCOXeG7vHO9O1Jr Plus this creatively weird intersection: https://youtu.be/HIpsr9953zc?si=0GHcjKWMNJxCgYG9
I wouldn't call these paths "weird", they're outright evil.
Some are annoying, unusable or just dangerous.
I live in Calgary (specifically the downtown core) and there are many intersections that simply do not function because of pedestrians blocking the flow of traffic. There was a huge backlash against installing the bike lane infrastructure, but honestly I think it's made things a little better. Perfect? No, but better.
In my opinion that disappearing bike lane is really good. In cities I know it just dissapears and you don't know what now. I live in Poland and our roads are a bit safer, cars are smaller, and I often go on streets without fear i will get hurt and there are situations where the bike lane appears out of nowhere and it's so badly signed that i don't know it exists and continuing on the street is illegal. One bike lane in my family city had just stairs in the middle but they fixed it, there is a way to get up without carrying a bike now…
But really what i wanted to say is that disappearing bike lane infrastructure is something i am kinda jealous of because I would probably have to figure myself what to do, push my bike through the crosswalk or smth to land on the street and there you have infrastructure that tells you that at least
Excellent points.
I mean, yeah corkscrews are bad but at least better than waiting minutes upon minutes for your turn. I hate that my city claims to be "country's cycling city" but doing nothing but paint. They want to have 25% modal share of cyclists by 2025, from I think 13% that currently endure this shit. I mean easiest thing would be to make cycle / pedestrian lights prioritized. Or even just stop making them pure beggar lights (where you have to push the button before it will consider your street crossing desire) and giving pedestrians / cyclists traffic light phases too. but no, just talk and furthering boomer car infrastructure while rebranding some okayish infrastructure for recreational cycling to "cycling highways". Guess what, a) these routes existed before, also not the best tarmac but ok. b) nearly no one commutes on them, because they are in a recreational area of the city. Only boomers driving by suv, parking in the area and then cycling with their fat e-bikes on these routes. But yeah, cycling city / cycling capital. F that. If you really want to brand yourself that way, at least make it a tiny wee bit believable
I rode around Calgary a few years ago and yes, some of your bike infrastructure is weird, but it exists. And I had a fairly enjoyable time.
Most Canadian cities, like mine have nothing but paint on the side of the road, where cars frequently park, where there is no separation from traffic and where the painted bike lane abruptly ends at intersections or bus stops.
I'll take weird over non-existent or dangerous any day.
We have a somewhat similar corkscrew overpass. Not over a road but a habour bay. But this one is designed much better. The radius is probably wider. The path too. The path even has some banking so you can go down at speed. It a lot of fun.
We had a bike path under a major road/stroad that flooded at every significant high tide. I had to plan my commute to coincide with low tide when tides were expected to be over 6 ft. Or choose the longer route. LOL
Good news! My city fixed it. It is wider, the bridge also has two way bike lanes on both sides, and it never floods, even during king tides in a storm!
Yeah, but some bike infrastructure is worse than nothing. How many dysfunctional bike lanes exist, not to facilitate cycling, but to shunt bikes off of space shared with cars? That's actually net-bad for cyclists because it creates the expectation that they not share traffic. My city has a glorified Uber Eats standing lane on one of its major thoroughfares which is worse than no bike lane at all. I definitely blame the planners for that!
Yyc is definitely a city with a complex love/hate relationship with bikes. And a love/love relationship with cars.
The most frustrating part is that the city thinks they are building infrastructure and then they say that they build it but nobody uses it when the problem is that they built it but it doesn’t connect properly. Networks have to connect to function. Another think obvious on your video was building it and then never cleaning it up. All the gravel and other debris flows from the car use part of the roadway into the bike lane and it takes forever to get it cleaned up in the spring. We get at least 4 starts to spring and the pathways don’t get cleaned until the last one. A lot of people try to cycle after the first one but get put off by the debris and don’t come back.
These designs are weird because designers are forced to add bike and pedestrian facilities to roads designed to give primacy to the motor car. For 100 years, urban planners have been told that fast and efficient vehicle traffic was their north star. Now, the pendulum has shifted to emphasize mixed modes including cyclists and pedestrians. They are stuck with the infrastructure built for the earlier era and it will take another thirty years to unwind all this. It's happening (not fast enough for me) but limitations in funding will keep this slow and deliberate. Our role as cyclists is to make sure they don't revert to auto-centric thinking.
Wow, great perspective at the end!! It's about how we build our cities and what we prioritize 💯 After getting to know my local planner I agree, they can only work within the broader priorities set for them. I think that's why building popular support through advocacy groups is important, because it gives politicians cover for changing those priorities.
There’s a spot on my ride home where the nice multi use path I take drops into an intersection and there’s a big sign that says right hand turn yield to bikes, and in my 1 year riding there, I have literally never seen someone yield. I swear to god even when the turn signal is red and the pedestrian signal is on walk, you sometimes have drivers turn anyway. It’s so bad that even when I have the right of way, I stop and wait for it to be clear.
The Copenhagen bend or how it is called also forces cyclist to face car traffic at 90 degrees with maximum continuous visibility, rather than a quick peek over the shoulder.
see it like this: Bike riders seem to be way more intelligent than car drivers. Or can you imagine car traffic running with this type of "flow": left, right, over, under, zigzag, spirals, … nothing? Or it's that people who live and travel in a city without creating noise, pollution and burning non-recoveral resources are not that important. I hate to say but I'm sure it's #2. Greetings from Germany, where the only difference is that the roads are more narrow.
I would never use nice and multi-use in the same sentence😂 but your first example (well marked bike way separated from the car lane) would be a huge improvement to a lot of situations here in Zurich, therefor I was surprised you showed it as a weird example
A lot of this is due to lack of multi-use rail. People are forced to cars and planes and lack an adequate third option. Transit buses are cheap, but connecting is a nightmare. We lack good rail access in the West and Midwest.
Bikes and rail complement each other quite well. Would like to see pedal bikes and trikes accomodated more on trains, and by the way, how about mobility scooters, including enclosed ones?
The second infrastructure gave me a sense of familiarity, though this one is less caused by a road (even if it crosses one as a side effect) and more by a railway but with similarly narrow curves, though I've seen similar overpasses for an expressway. And I think this is Bridgeland / Memorial station, squished between the carriageways of Memorial Drive NE and it frankly is also one of the more justifiable cases at least when it comes to limited access highways (i.e. not a stroad) and such grade separation is more justified (whether it should exist in this state is a different question, of course).
Whether it should have been built like that is an entirely different question, though.
The underpass one also is one of the lesser offenders IMO as it does take care of the smaller clearance for cyclists and pedestrians vs. cars, though you can also ask yourself whether the two lanes are really necessary (and also a reminder that car infrastructure is expensive as the underpass would be smaller had it served only pedestrians and cyclists). The windy ramp at one exit also is a side effect of the underpass, though again, more space could have been used there if a) 4 Street SE had only one lane in each direction and b) 10 Avenue SE also weren't this wide.
That being said, the other four points have fewer excuses and are clear design flaws, both the winding paths and the path which can be flooded in particular but even the crossing is quite bad, although this one is moreso problematic for the reason that there are so many lanes to cross than just having only three crossings installed.
Hi Tom! I also live in Calgary, I'd love to improve the city for cyclists and everyone really, what steps can I take to advocate for better infrastructure and educating drivers?
Is it really illegal to bike on an empty sidewalk? If so, that’s your problem. Bikes and pedestrians can mostly share. Your lawmakers need to do better.
The only solution is to make all city councilors and planning dept ride these "creative solutions" themseves
Why didn't they just build a tunnel instead of that corkscrew?
When and if it's possible, feel free to explain the preferred, bike-friendly, pathways.
The real solution is to get better people elected. It's politics. It's all about politics.
Your channel just got recommended to me! Much of what you're showing is infrastructure from my (our?) neighbourhood that I use regularly. Cool!