On-road: Protected bicycle lanes - Capitalising on success
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Bicycle Victoria wants to see bicycle lanes with a higher level of protection than just a white line trialled on some routes in Melbourne
It is now time for councils and governments alike to capitalise on the successes achieved by simple, on-road cycle space allocations characterised typically by line marking, and took their most popular key routes to the next level.
In Europe (where helmets are not compulsory!), cycle space has been reallocated to provide greater separation from motor vehicles as shown opposite. Placing protected cycle lanes between kerbs and parked cars has proved extremely successful in cities such as Copenhagen where 36% of the population commute to work daily!
Over the past decade, Melbourne and Victoria have established substantial transport networks by means of painted cycle lanes, and to a lesser extent, wide kerbside lanes. These have encouraged many to cycle on-road to and from work and for many other transport and recreational trips.
Bicycle Victoria believes that the real challenge now lies ahead, and that the way of attracting more people to riding will be by providing higher levels of service.
The construction of the first separated, on-road lane was completed in July 2007 on Swanston St, between Melbourne University and RMIT in the City of Melbourne. The City of Melbourne is now pushing for the construction of more 'Eurpoean Style Cycleways' in Melbourne.
In recent years bidirectional separated on-road lanes have also been built along the Kew Boulevard and in Kent St, Perth
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Kent St, Perth
The bi-directional separated path on Yarra Boulevard, Kew.
A Toolkit of Options
There are many ways in which better levels on service can be achieved. Ideally, most of the space will already be allocated, as the ideal routes for these treatments will generally be the most heavily used by riders.
Following are a few of the ways in which greater separation can be achieved:
1. Between Kerb and Parked Cars
This involves reallocating road space by flipping bicycle lane space with the car parking spaces. We believe the minimum width for a separated lane should be 2.0m to allow riders to pass each other.
The advantages of this method are:
- Space generally already exists and therefore easy to do;
- Riders not exposed to traffic or parked cars opening doors (around 90% of car trips are single occupant);
- Generally economical as no extra asphalt etc required.
2. Kerbside on Raised Pavement
Bicycle lanes can be separated by raising them slightly from road level to just below footpath level. This makes it difficult for motor vehicles to encroach on cycle lane space and also acts as a visual cue for pedestrians, cyclist and motorists alike that the space is for bicycles.
3. Other forms of enhanced separation
There are many other ways in which enhanced separation can be achieved, ranging from physical measures to visual cues. Some of these measures may act as a middle measure between getting from a painted lane to a fully separated lane. Some of these are:
- Kerb Extensions – bringing kerbs out at intersections to provide protection to cyclists;
- Raised, ride over platforms at intersections – these slow motor vehicles and used in conjunction with visual cues will provide for safer crossings of intersections by cyclists;
- Coloured Paint – Green paint has been very successful in slip lane treatments;
- Painted Chevrons with raised reflective pavement indicators (RRPI’s) – currently, many lanes have buffer protection by means of painted chevrons. This adds a small level of separation. We believe that RRPI’s or even audible notification paint could be placed on the outside of the painted chevron area to ensure motorists are aware of the cycle lane and are discouraged from entering it;
Naturally, road reserve widths, on-street parking requirements, adjacent land use, crossovers, services etc mean that certain measures may lend themselves more easily to certain areas. We believe however, that for higher levels of modal shift, and more connected, liveable, active communities, the above measures will be vital.
Benefit of Colour
In a major study in Denmark, marking bicycle lanes in blue across intersections resulted in a 38 percent decrease in bicycle crashes and a 71 percent decrease in fatalities and serious injuries.
- Søren Underlien Jensen, Karina Vestergaard Andersen and Erling Dan Nielsen, "Junctions and cyclists," paper presented at Velo-City‘97.
Benefits
- A Swedish study found the use of coloured markings increased safety per bicyclist by 20%.
- Studies in England and Scotland also showed coloured markings to be effective at reducing conflicts.
- A 1996 study in Montreal, Quebec found the use of blue at five intersections resulted in a small but significant decrease in the number of conflicts.
Experts estimated a 30-percent improvement in safety. However, the authors suggested that the total number of crashes should be expected to increase due to a 50-percent increase in the number of bicyclists using the improved crossings (Leden, 1997).
A follow-on paper using a Bayesian approach for combining the results of the model and surveys estimated a risk reduction of approximately 30 percent attributable to the raised and painted crossing (Leden, Gårder, and Pulkkinen, 1998).
For more information
Please do not hesitate to contact Bicycle Victoria by email at campaigns@bv.com.au should you require any further information or design assistance.