30 March 2011

Canberra's cycle path repair shame

| johnboy
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bike path repair

Last week we marvelled at heroic road repairs in Japan.

Over the weekend I was reminded that Canberra too had a case of roads unzipping last December during the floods.

cycle path damage

Sadly three months later our repair effort, as seen above, have lacked Japanese efficiency or urgency.

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thy_dungeonman said :

if you told everyone that they had to drive 4WD because some parts of the road were dirt I’m sure they would complain about the roads.

You obviously havent driven much outside the cities or major highways have you? Dirt roads are the norm in rural areas.

thy_dungeonman said :

I prefer to call this argument Cyclist VS ACT government and it will continue until they improve cycling infrastructure to satisfactory degree. Despite what everyone thinks they don’t listen to cyclists or pedal power nearly enough.

The thing is, motorists have how many lobbyist groups? Compare that to the number that cyclists have? Are you suggesting that maybe the government should have a cycleways department the same as the roads department? Where should the funding for this infrastructure come from? What about to ‘be fair’ some traffic measuring devices are setup on parkes way and on the bike bath below to see how the money should be split? Cycle paths are public areas, roadways are (except for bicycles) limited to vehicles where the driver is suitably trained, licenced and the vehicle theyre in/on is registered. Anyone can use a cycle path, only those who meet the legal requirements and who have paid the required fees can use a roadway.

Eyl said :

zig said :

Probably haven’t had any focus on them due to the amount of roadworks happening everywhere in the ACT.

But meh what does it matter as cyclists use the roads that run alongside the cycle paths anyhow. May as well rip them up.

Couldnt have put it better….

Rip up the roads?

Some cyclists are scared of the roads. Others ride too fast to safely share the paths.

zig said :

Probably haven’t had any focus on them due to the amount of roadworks happening everywhere in the ACT.

But meh what does it matter as cyclists use the roads that run alongside the cycle paths anyhow. May as well rip them up.

Couldnt have put it better….

thy_dungeonman said :

. . . if you told everyone that they had to drive 4WD because some parts of the road were dirt I’m sure they would complain about the roads.

Not me. Just give me an excuse to get the (historic) rally car back on the road. It’s also part of my plan to reduce, over time, the incidence of road fatalities.

Step 1: dig up every inch of tarmac, leaving gravel roads everywhere
Step 2: undertake to stay off the road for about a fortnight (in unity with anyone else holding a CAMS licence)
Step 3: watch massive increase in the effects of Darwin’s theories demonstrated on the roads during this time
Step 4: after the passage of a further two weeks, return to use of road (see reference to historic rally car, above)
Step 5: commence simultaneous resurfacing of roads and adoption of much more rigourous driver training and testing regime.

(Yes, I’m joking. But, as in any joke, therin is contained kernals of truth and hope).

thy_dungeonman10:21 am 31 Mar 11

farnarkler said :

Buy yourself a decent mountain bike with front and back suspension and lap it up.

I refer my road bike since it is much lighter and faster and require less exertion, if you told everyone that they had to drive 4WD because some parts of the road were dirt I’m sure they would complain about the roads.

Buy yourself a decent mountain bike with front and back suspension and lap it up.

georgesgenitals8:47 pm 30 Mar 11

thy_dungeonman said :

georgesgenitals said :

Hey everyone – just for something different, let’s have a big argument on the internet, and call it ‘cyclists versus drivers’.

I prefer to call this argument Cyclist VS ACT government and it will continue until they improve cycling infrastructure to satisfactory degree. Despite what everyone thinks they don’t listen to cyclists or pedal power nearly enough.

Good shot!

Anyone care to rebut?

thy_dungeonman7:18 pm 30 Mar 11

georgesgenitals said :

Hey everyone – just for something different, let’s have a big argument on the internet, and call it ‘cyclists versus drivers’.

I prefer to call this argument Cyclist VS ACT government and it will continue until they improve cycling infrastructure to satisfactory degree. Despite what everyone thinks they don’t listen to cyclists or pedal power nearly enough.

georgesgenitals6:50 pm 30 Mar 11

Hey everyone – just for something different, let’s have a big argument on the internet, and call it ‘cyclists versus drivers’.

patrick_keogh said :

FD10 said :

thy_dungeonman said :

OMFG someone who STILL believes that car rego pays for road funding! Surely the last one in captivity.

Exactly! Or the implicit assumption that people wot ride bikes don’t pay rego.

thy_dungeonman6:19 pm 30 Mar 11

FD10 said :

thy_dungeonman said :

What I’m trying to say is that cyclists should get the same consideration when it comes to infrastructure as car users, only on a smaller scale.

I’d totally agree with that if cyclists funded this in a similar (albeit smaller scale) to how roads are funded through rego. Until then, cycle paths should be second to roads (note, I’m not saying we shouldn’t fund cycle paths).

Having said that, it is a joke that this hasn’t been fixed yet.

How about to make it fair we divide tax funding equally between paths and roads and then add to road funding whatever car registration raises, I’m sure paths would get more than the current $2m in that case.

OpenYourMind6:00 pm 30 Mar 11

I lobbied ACT Govt to fix this section after the damage originally occurred. The temporary path, while not ideal, is much better than blocking the path all together as was done at first. There’s no on-road cycling on the section of road above this path and the roundabouts are positively bicycle unfriendly.
So, while the temporary path isn’t perfect, we are very appreciative of at least having this as an alternative.

And FD10 and others, no, rego doesn’t pay for our roads & cycleways. Stop repeating this nonsense.

patrick_keogh5:27 pm 30 Mar 11

FD10 said :

thy_dungeonman said :

What I’m trying to say is that cyclists should get the same consideration when it comes to infrastructure as car users, only on a smaller scale.

I’d totally agree with that if cyclists funded this in a similar (albeit smaller scale) to how roads are funded through rego. Until then, cycle paths should be second to roads (note, I’m not saying we shouldn’t fund cycle paths).

Having said that, it is a joke that this hasn’t been fixed yet.

OMFG someone who STILL believes that car rego pays for road funding! Surely the last one in captivity.

thy_dungeonman said :

What I’m trying to say is that cyclists should get the same consideration when it comes to infrastructure as car users, only on a smaller scale.

I’d totally agree with that if cyclists funded this in a similar (albeit smaller scale) to how roads are funded through rego. Until then, cycle paths should be second to roads (note, I’m not saying we shouldn’t fund cycle paths).

Having said that, it is a joke that this hasn’t been fixed yet.

thy_dungeonman4:16 pm 30 Mar 11

remmi2 said :

thy_dungeonman said :

zig said :

It seems a bit unfair that cars get double lanes both ways when cyclists can hardly get a narrow strip of path.

You are kidding right? How unfair is it that the majority of road users get double lanes and cyclists get zilch. The “narrow” path is fine for a bike, unless you ride in a group which you should ride in a single file anyway. I ride everyday and have no problems with narrow paths, it’s better than nothing.

what I meant was that while cars have two lanes each way so that they can overtake and traffic can flow freely cyclists are given a path to share with pedestrians or in many cases (like this) simply a dirt track or even nothing at all. If this was a road (more) people would be outraged. when it comes to pedestrians they always complain that bikes should be treated as fast-moving vehicles but when it comes to the paths themselves they are treated a s pedestrians.

What I’m trying to say is that cyclists should get the same consideration when it comes to infrastructure as car users, only on a smaller scale.

Felix the Cat said :

remmi2 said :

The “narrow” path is fine for a bike, unless you ride in a group which you should ride in a single file anyway.

Suggest you back and study the road rules.

Suggest you learn the difference between “should” and “are legally required to”.

Felix the Cat2:03 pm 30 Mar 11

remmi2 said :

The “narrow” path is fine for a bike, unless you ride in a group which you should ride in a single file anyway.

Suggest you back and study the road rules.

thy_dungeonman said :

zig said :

It seems a bit unfair that cars get double lanes both ways when cyclists can hardly get a narrow strip of path.

You are kidding right? How unfair is it that the majority of road users get double lanes and cyclists get zilch. The “narrow” path is fine for a bike, unless you ride in a group which you should ride in a single file anyway. I ride everyday and have no problems with narrow paths, it’s better than nothing.

wow thats quite a bit of ground movement.

thy_dungeonman12:49 pm 30 Mar 11

zig said :

But meh what does it matter as cyclists use the roads that run alongside the cycle paths anyhow. May as well rip them up.

Mainly because the cycle paths are in such bad repair and because they are not as direct as the roads since most were built for recreational use around the lake and haven’t been changed since.

It seems a bit unfair that cars get double lanes both ways when cyclists can hardly get a narrow strip of path.

Yeap, those tyre marks in the gravel are from all the cyclists not using the bike path.

It’s part of the stanhope art for canberrans project.

We buy Japanese technology, that’s about as close as we come to Japanese efficiency/urgency.

Maybe the greens can introduce a policy so they look like they are doing something about this. Amazed that pedallypoower hasn’t sooked to chiefly about this yet.

ConanOfCooma12:46 pm 30 Mar 11

The reason the repairs have lacked Japanese efficiency and urgency, is that we are not Japanese.

This be Australia.

zig said :

But meh what does it matter as cyclists use the roads that run alongside the cycle paths anyhow. May as well rip them up.

That particular bit of path was badly missed by me at least – riding a bike on the corresponding busy, cycle-lane-less stretch of Parkes Way is a charmless experience. Even in its current crappy gravel base incarnation the path is an improvement on that!

Probably haven’t had any focus on them due to the amount of roadworks happening everywhere in the ACT.

But meh what does it matter as cyclists use the roads that run alongside the cycle paths anyhow. May as well rip them up.

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