Dan, glad to hear the idea is on your radar. Hope to talk with you more about it.
Best, Jay On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 6:32 PM, McCormick, Dan <[email protected]> wrote: > Jay, > > Thanks very much for sharing the article. I agree with the point of > the article. We were just talking at staff meeting about this same > topic related to Segoe Rd. & it's resurfacing this year. We discussed > that the standard really is a minimum & the trend needs to look for a > wider bike lane & space & separaration or buffer from traffic. > > Last summer I also came across a family cycling & the father > apparently hit a parked car's side mirror on Bluff St. seemingly > protecting his family. Not the experience we want. > > Thanks again for the article. Look forward to making bicycling better > in Madison. > > Dan McCormick > > > > On Mar 4, 2010, at 5:12 PM, "Jay Ferm" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> (Dan, I got your email wrong below...jbf) >> >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: Jay Ferm <[email protected]> >> Date: Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 5:09 PM >> Subject: "family sized" bike lanes >> To: [email protected] >> Cc: [email protected], Tony Fernandez >> <[email protected]>, Ray Harmon <[email protected]> >> >> >> Jonathan over at www.bikeportland.com has a very good article about >> family biking on bikelanes, bike boulevards and residential streets. >> Heres the link: >> http://bikeportland.org/2010/03/04/editorial-when-it-comes-to-family-biking-size-matters/#more-30258 >> >> This gets to a point we discussed on the Platinum Bike Planning >> Committee but have yet to realize here in Madison (to my knowledge, >> please correct me if I'm mistaken), that it would be helpful to define >> a "design reference cyclist" for whom we design infrastructure. >> Currently, it would seem that most (maybe all) infrastructure we >> design and build in Madison is designed for a confident adult riding >> by themselves on a standard bike with no cargo on a clear day. As soon >> as two people want to ride together, it rains, you pull a trailer, >> ride with kidsj you add substantial cargo, the real world performance >> of the infrastructure quickly degrades. >> >> What would the Capitol City Trail (né Isthmus Bike Path) look like if >> it were designed for a 70 year old grandmother pulling a trailer with >> her 2 year old grandchild in it with a 7 year old riding her own bike? >> For starters, the path would be much wider, allowing this trio to >> comfortably pass a similar group coming the opposite direction. At >> intersections, the full length of the bike + trailer would be >> accommodated as it approached, stopped, got started again. Since the >> kid riding in the trailer with no suspension has no way to foresee >> bumps nor the ability to raise up on legs to deal with bumps, the curb >> cut transitions would be smooth and gentle, rather than the gut >> jarring transitions we mostly have today. When they arrived at their >> destination, some percentage of the bike parking would gracefully >> accomodate the bike+trailer. >> >> This isn't a knock on staff. It's a challenge to policy. I think we >> need to talk about who we are designing for, and the impact that >> infrastructure design has on users. >> >> Best, >> Jay Ferm > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
