Trails

[ZEBuilder]

The cities should consider simply painting a yellow line down the middle of the existing sidewalks. It would immediately become a MUT, but without the colossal environmental cost of tearing out concrete just to pour asphalt and disposing of it. A few drums of road paint would cost the taxpayer a lot less.

Sidewalks are not wide enough to do that. A MUT must accommodate both cyclists and pedestrians safely.

You'd hope it's that simple but the reality is it's a nightmare to do it that way. If you were to do it that way for whatever reason (not industry best practice) you would be required to install "cyclists dismount at crossing" signs at every road crossing if you don't go ahead and install proper cross ride facilities. Now you would think the sign would provide legal protection to the city/region in the event a cyclist were to not dismount and get hit, however that is not the case. The city/region can still be found liable in the event a cyclist were to be injured while biking across the intersection if there isn't a cross ride facility. Now you have to install a proper cross ride facility at every intersection if you don't want to risk the legal mess that ensues and at that point you've already spent enough capital to install curb cuts, tactile plates, crossride paint, etc that it is honestly simpler to just build a proper MUT since you have to do the crossings anyways if you want to avoid the potential legal mess.