The sub header of the article describes it best.

“This can only end well,” said anyone who has ever ridden a bike through traffic, ever

  • grue@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This design is actually good – it’s a Dutch-style shared street. (See other examples here and here).

    Edit: and here’s a NotJustBikes video that shows the design.

    Don’t fall for Jalopnik’s pro-car spin.

    • numbscroll@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I trust the Dutch with this design, bikes are treated as priority with a lot of respect. Not the same in the US… and in this test, I especially wouldn’t trust college town kids and local drivers who asked for (and got) additional parking on the same street.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You never arrive at your destination unless you start moving towards it. Knock it off with the defeatist American exceptionalism.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      IDK, I’m not a fan of parking on both sides. In the examples you showed, there was either no parking or parking on one side facing oncoming bicycle traffic. If you put parking on both sides, bicycles end up in the door zone if they stay in their lane. Cars will push cyclists into the door zone with this design because they feel they have a right to the center lane.

      I would be okay with this if the parking were only on one side.

    • CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      We have a couple of these in my local community. Same thing happened, a bunch of hysterical postings, and then it worked and people just forgot about it

    • klieg2323@lemmy.piperservers.net
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      1 year ago

      Glad someone made this comment before me. Here’s the MLive article the clickbait is based on. You can learn more about edge lane roads here.

      Generally these are good for slower speed routes that don’t seea lot of traffic. Residential streets are a perfect example. It’s basically how drivers instinctively navigate down slow narrow streets. Not too familiar with that area of Kalamazoo to know if it’s a good fit for that road but I’m generally in favor of this road layout and think we need more of them in the US so it’s not seen as some scary confusing thing by motorists.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Having the entire road unmarked seems like it would work better than whatever this is.

  • kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Mmmm, yeah, let’s have a novel road concept that will confuse unfamiliar drivers and also pit cyclists directly against cars in the same lane. Sounds great.

  • mooseknee@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    This was done in some town in California I think a few years ago. It actually did slow traffic and caused drivers to pay more attention. Overall though the area wasn’t happy with it and they reverted it. I think in that case, though, the municipality just changed it overnight without warning or consultation.

    • TheWaterGod@lemmy.caOP
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      1 year ago

      Commuter Thunderdome - Two commuters enter, one commuter leaves (the car defeats the squishy human every time).

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Design a road that will deter cyclists from using it without saying you’re designing a road that will deter cyclists from using it.

    The idea of having protected bike lanes and bike paths that are completely away from roads is because NOBODY CAN TRUST DRIVERS. It’s as simple as that.

    Keep us as far away from these vehicles of mass destruction if you care at all about safety.