06-04-2017, 10:31 PM
(06-04-2017, 08:25 PM)PhilippAchtel Wrote: http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news...bdivisions
Quote:Reevely: Ottawa looks to save builders (and buyers) millions on new subdivisions
Roads for cars and trucks are paved atop layer after layer of stabilizing foundation; they have to withstand years of pressure from thousands of pounds of rubber and glass and metal. A cyclist weighs a couple of hundred pounds at most, and there’s no point, the city has realized, in building a road extra wide only to reserve a metre on either side of it for bikes. Cycle tracks next to sidewalks, on beds built to the lighter sidewalk standards, are good enough.
Better, in fact, because most cyclists prefer to be up and away from car traffic, protected from motor vehicles by more than a line of paint. So the city can save $41 for every metre of road we build by doing what cyclists want anyway.
On new roads this makes sense. On existing roads, though, it's probably more expensive than reusing the main road surface. (Not to argue that it wouldn't be better, though.)