What's really behind weird bike infrastructure in cities

Sometimes I come across bike infrastructure that's so out-of-step with its surroundings, so outlandish in its execution and so downright weird that I can't help but wonder: Who builds this stuff?
In this video, I explore five pieces of bizarro bike infrastructure in my city (Calgary, Canada), and then think more deeply about how they came to exist.
Thank you to everyone in the community who made suggestions on the weirdest bike infrastructure in the city. And if you have something particularly oddball where you live, please share it.
0:00 Introduction
1:13 The corkscrew overpass. WEIRD!
1:41 Two-way to one-way and back. WEIRD!
2:41 The flood-prone pathway. WEIRD!
3:25 The disappearing bike lane. WEIRD!
4:02 The crosswalk to nowhere. WEIRD!
5:07 What's really going on with these things?
9:06 How our cities can do better
#cycling #bike #commuting
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[@SteveRuprecht]

So dumb that the transportation mode with personal entertainment systems and recliners also enjoy the shortest routes between points.

[@tay-lore]

Stop criticizing them! Their butt fell asleep 30 minutes ago! It was a really hard day!

[@lord_scrubington]

idk man, planes travel pretty far last I checked

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

@@lord_scrubington funnily enough, planes have an even SHORTER route. Considering they literally go "as the crow flies."

[@lord_scrubington]

@@gearandalthefirst7027 good point XD

[@asteroidrules]

Such a surprise that city planners assumed most people would choose the best option.

[@spore124]

That "weird switchbackey thing" is probably more a consideration for wheelchair users that happens to also give you a way up the flight of stairs without walking your bike.

[@MylesHSG]

It gets pedestrians, bikes and wheelchairs over the road in the cheapest way possible.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

No its built like that to prevent dipshits from driving their motor vehicles up there to take a shortcut

[@spore124]

@@MylesHSG Oh, I was referring to the thing at 5:40, not the corkscrew overpass. You can find this design even in non-bike friendly areas for the purpose of handicap accessibility, but it is a good example of how bike infrastructure and disability infrastructure can often be one and the same. The corkscrew overpass is significantly more annoying in its mistreatment of non-driver's time for the benefit of cheaper car infrastructure.

[@MylesHSG]

@@spore124 ah sorry my bad

[@Shifter_Cycling]

True, and I shudder to think about people in wheelchairs having to use that corkscrew overpass.

[@Avram1919]

I have been watching your videos for about a year and can finally say. "I am officially a bike commuter!" Rode over 50 miles riding to work this week. My legs are dead, but my spirit and mindset feel so much better

[@Nonkel_Jef]

Nice going! Your legs will get used to it in no time.

[@justcommenting4981]

Awesome! Stay safe.

[@Chrisdelivers]

That is so awesome. I rode 26 miles to work round-trip every day and it was literally the happiest time of my life. I got a different job and I miss that commute every day.

[@shinnam]

Good on you❤ One doesn't get to old to ride, one gets old from not riding. At 61 I bike about 200 km a week.

[@dimrrider9133]

Good job, when i was a kid i was a paperboy to save money for a mopped and went to school also i drove 8km for the papers and 32km to school every day. Now im 52 and still have the benefits of that, you gonne be very healthy ;p

[@clawrence034]

Weird bike infrastructure kills. I got hit by a car at the other side of that underpass where the bike lane just ends for a block before restarting on 12th ave. The driver wasn't looking for a cyclist coming from the sidewalk.

[@lbergen001]

In the Netherlands, the city is liable for such accedents bc It is a unsafe road setup and therefore unlawful.

[@codylittlefield7885]

It's weird because 10th ave is also supposed to be a "bikeway" (sharrows). But if you go that way, up the zig zag, you basically have to figure out how to get over to 12th before you hit McLeod trail or you might as well just die.

[@wclark3196]

"Multiuse pathways" are just the city giving up. They're sidewalks that they call something else so they can tell bicyclers to ride on them. Always a recipe for disaster as a significant number of bicyclers are irresponsible and a menace to pedestrians.

[@jattikuukunen]

@@wclark3196 multiuse pathway works pretty well for casual cycling if the amount of bikers and pedestrians is low. It also needs to be wide enough to safely pass two pedestrians walking side by side, or a pedestrian walking their dog, without slowing down. For areas with more pedestrians than one every 100 meters, something else is mandatory.

[@rianfelis3156]

@@wclark3196 I would add irresponsible pedestrians to the list. The groups that are taking up the entire width of the path, and not noticing a bell behind them, or walking a dog on an invisible leash, creating a tripping hazard when you go by them in either direction. There are several around here that are just too heavily trafficked to be comfortable riding along though.

[@bentrig9128]

All of this comes down to mindset and planning culture. Prioritizing the flow of traffic is so deeply embedded into the planning process that its taken for granted that cars will take priority. Cars are for getting places, walking & cycling are for leisure and exercise. So even when bike lanes are put in for transportation, its done in such a way that still treats them as leisure.

[@amyself6678]

To be fair 100x more people travel by car than Bicycle in Canada. Cars pay fuel taxes. In 1920s on brick roads the bicycles dare not use such crappy roads. Those who didn't use cars walked under a mile. There was NO bicycle crowd that got shafted in the 1930s. This idea that "it's a conspiracy" to be anti bike is sorta pathetic. Canada literally has too much ice to be next Netherlands, there is a different between 5 days with freezing and 100 as Montreal does vs Amsterdam. I'm in Minnesota and biked and fell once a week, I'd wear layers, but silly to think bicycles were robbed in Canada. If you live far from work in freezing areas you're an idiot who needs a car. 80% of France and Finland also drive to work, this myth that bikes could work for many is so non fact based.. even in flat warmer Netherlands 60% drive to work.... Bikes are not a solution, they just aren't, to suburbia.

[@pete5668]

@@amyself6678 Bikes are designed to be ridden by children in their parents' driveways. They don't belong on the roads.

[@jhfl1881]

Most of the infrastructure that we see here was designed decades ago when no one cared about cyclists, so cities trying to accommodate cyclists now, is makeshift. As roadways are rebuilt, they are engineered with these in mind. It takes time.

[@amyself6678]

Roads were brick and cobblestone so biking was NOT a thing in 30s. Cars naturally got focus. When suburbs made workplaces be far from home in 60s no one even thought of inventing distance biking . No one even made a good commuter bike in US til 90s. Biking in US was late to party yet still moans how it's an anti bike conspiracy. I'm just saying the poor planners missed biking cuz it was easy to miss, history misled us all that biking was a great option. I remember biking in 80s with solid tires cuz 80s tires popped so much, we forget how sucky a schwin with the turned down handles was for actual use. I'm for bikes now.

[@cyan_oxy6734]

​@@amyself6678I'm sorry but what are you talking about? Bikes predate car's by a century and while historic city centers had cobble stone most were dirt and compacted gravel roads designed for horses and carriages. Also why wouldn't people dare to drive their bikes on cobble stone? It's not like there was car traffic to endanger them and as long as it's not wet it's definitely possible. My own great grandfather who lived through both world wars had a bike repair shop in rual northern Czechia and made his living off of it. In Germany owning a car wasn't standard until the 60s. Under German law cyclists were mandated to use bike paths in 1937 meaning there were bikepaths back then and enough of them to make it pratical to mandate their usage. The American view of bikes being a new thing and that you need the Commuter3000 für $1k is kinda absurd from our view. Sure most people still use cars in Europe but cycling was always a consideration from the beginning. Building neighbourhoods without sidewalks and bikepaths is a mostly new world thing.

[@HallsEmporium]

As a fellow Calgarian this video validated my confusion with all of the spots you showed. So often I’d think I was uneducated about something and needed to figure it out some how!

[@Spanderson99]

The 17 ave crossing is the worst offender IMO. That should be a bike lane all the way to Elbow Drive! The rest of downtown has come so far, but there’s still a long way to go

[@sixfatpeople]

@@Spanderson99 I keep writing letters over it. Its like a complete puzzle with a piece missing, so close yet it ruins the entire product.

[@georgekarnezis4311]

my city tried building a 4 way protected intersection. the drawings looked great. I was very excited for my city's new embrace of good bike infrastructure. however what got built was a single corner of protection and three corners of some green paint.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Paint 😑

[@oteromason]

One of the only bits of bike infrastructure in my city is a multiuse pathway that is great for commuting into the city from the outlying communities. the biggest problem is that it passes DIRECTLY through an amphitheater so whenever there is a concert it closes and forces you onto a 2 mile detour over a very large hill

[@Korina42]

Okay, that's hilarious. We also have a MUP that goes directly through an amphitheater and then dumps you into a parking lot, the end. City planners, man.

[@richardd408]

Calgarys pathways can be pretty schizophrenic, but considering we’re in the holy land of the private automobile it could be worse.

[@gwynnhead]

Funny, watching from Los Angeles, Calgary looks like Copenhagen.

[@CanItAlready]

I can think of three spots in the city where i live that have bike lanes that start suddenly and go nowhere. Actually traveling by bike requires people to ride alongside motor vehicles of all kinds. In the past couple of years I've noticed more people getting around on bikes. I hope the people in city planning are also noticing.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

It's funny that we need the presence of cyclists to justify the construction of bike lanes when the reason many people don't ride a bike is because there are no bike lanes

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@Shifter_Cycling chicken and egg problem. on the positive side, induced demand also exists. build the bike lanes and people will bike more.

[@Korina42]

Don't hope, tell them. Get some others to tell them too, and maybe you can get those bike lanes to go somewhere.

[@russleen403]

That corkscrew overpass at 6:08 is not even the worst thing about this crossing. There is no bike path on the other side of it other than a tiny "pathway" through the park. You just have to navigate your way back onto the road through the CTrain crowd.

[@RolandRides]

That reminds me so much of Munich, Germany. Even new infrastructure is built in crappy ways as most politicans and officials never ride bikes.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Petition the city government to mandate their workers who live near to bike to work to reduce carbon footprint. Go to the newspapers. Start some stuff. It will be fun. And they will have to do it if enough people laugh at them.

[@RolandRides]

@@TheSuperappelflap They successfully infiltrate the local cycling club so there is no independent bike lobby. Most ADFC (bike club) executives work for the City or politicans. It's totally rigged here.

[@NeovanGoth]

Idk, I'm living in Laim, my e-bike is my primary mode of transportation, and while the bike infrastructure could be better (particularly in older parts of the city), I think it's rather good overall. I can quickly go almost everywhere in the city without that much contact to intense car traffic. It's more often than not faster than public transportation or going by car.

[@sebastiaanlampo]

Munich has a bike path to its international airport... Good luck trying that here in Calgary! I don't doubt there are challenges but if there's a bike path to the airport, I consider it a win :D

[@FuchsHorst]

⁠only to Terminal 1 and no official way back. One has to cycle illegally on a motorway street for 200m. And you have to walk stairs with your bike.

[@LimitedWard]

All of these "quirks" look super inconvenient, but the corkscrew overpass ramp, in particular, seems downright dangerous. Not enough room to safely pass pedestrians and the entire ramp is a blind corner meaning you're at risk of a head-on collision the entire time you're riding on it. I would not feel comfortable riding on that ramp in either direction. A lot of the issues you described though were related to intersections where 2-way PBLs ended. I think that highlights some of the pitfalls of 2-way PBLs, but there are still ways they could have been implemented better. In Seattle, for instance, if a 2-way PBL ends there's typically a dedicated light cycle for bikes to cross diagonally across the intersection so they can safely get across. The intersection will also have a dashed green bike lane cutting diagonally to indicate to the cyclist where they need to go. That seems way better than using a bike box, which could result in getting t-boned by a car if the light changes as you're entering the green.

[@MrGrumblier]

The issue is with implementing them at all. The infrastructure was never intended for bikes, let alone for bikes to have protected lanes. For that matter, the existing infrastructure was never intended for the number of cars and trucks that exist. Any accommodation for bikes is going to be jury-rigged at best and non-existent at the worst in most urban areas. Keep in mind that cyclists don't pay road taxes so there is little incentive to fund bike focused infrastructure except on the cheap.

[@camrouxbg]

The old one they tore down at Victoria Park had stairs going up the centre of the helix, which made it a little safer, but the ramp was still the same width and terrifying to ride up or down. Nothing is built to an appropriate width for walkers and rollers to coexist. Even the Peace Bridge doesn't have enough space to be comfortable.

[@T13Nemo]

100% agree. It's a big issue Massachusetts spends on $64B a year! And 1.37B on public transportation!?! And if we double that I'd be able to have a train running by every 15 minutes? I'd stop driving all together.

[@joelv4495]

Come to Nashville, where we laugh at silly ideas. Light rail? Hahaha! Just get a car. (It's sad really)

[@TheRickurb]

Your point about bikes and pedestrians being subservient to cars is spot on. And even more horrific is the subservience of animals to cars. I think we all know how that ends

[@dmitripogosian5084]

Even worse are subservience of pedestrian to bikes

[@Apelles42069]

@@dmitripogosian5084 Don't lie, Dmitri.

[@dmitripogosian5084]

@@Apelles42069 It cannot be a lie because it is not a statement of fact, it is an evaluation. In my experience, bikes can be quite a nuisance and a danger for pedestrians.

[@Apelles42069]

@@dmitripogosian5084 You lied when you made the assertion that the "subservience of pedestrian to bikes," (?) is worse than that between pedestrians/animals and cars. It is a factually incorrect claim, not an "evaluation" (???). In your experience, if bikes can be so dangerous, then you should be grateful that it cannot get worse. If bikes are merely a nuisance to you, then good. I'm absolutely positive that where you're from there is a vibrant bicycle culture with flourishing pedestrian infrastructure and that you're definitely not exaggerating or lying and making yourself look stupid. In my experience, anecdotal evidence is inadequate at best or throwaway like now. How many thousands of people have been killed just today by the automobile? How many millions have been left maimed and permanently disabled by preventable car crashes? Access some data, bruh.

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

@@dmitripogosian5084 hard to kill 30 people by plowing into a sidewalk with a bicycle. I'd say cyclists can, AT WORST, be "annoying." And only then because they're forced into pedestrian spaces by the street design.

[@matthewbrach4922]

When you said the crosswalk to nowhere... My city has a crosswalk with a button and a signal that literally just goes to a curb. If you walk right next to the road for about 45 feet along that curb, you can get to ... A giant parking lot for an office complex!!

[@TheSuperappelflap]

As for the flooding or disappearing bike lanes, we have flooding in Holland too all year round when it rains a lot. And snow in winter. The solution when the bike path is blocked or stops, is to ride slowly in the middle of the road. This is legal if there is no accessible bike path. The laws in US and Canada favor cars too much to make that safely possible but there is the solution. If enough bikes block enough car traffic, there is an economic and political incentive for the local government to improve bike infrastructure. Also, every time someone on a bike dies in traffic, that warrants about 1.5 million euro in investment in infrastructure in that particular spot to make sure it never happens again.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Thanks for the Dutch perspective, where you're better than us at both cycling and dealing with floods

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@Shifter_Cycling I do believe canadians have the spirit and potential to make it happen! Better shot than your southern neighbours anyway, which is ironic considering the weather. Only thing I can really recommend is to organize politically and push the economic angle of safe bike infrastructure. It reduces commute times for everyone, even car drivers. It saves carbon emissions, which I hear your government currently is a big fan of, and its good for physical health, if you dont get run over. You could feasibly write out a case for more bike lanes in Canadian cities that will save millions of dollars per year and improve quality of life for everyone. And to reiterate just call the CROW or the department of infrastructure here and they will be happy to send someone to pester your governmemt about it as long as ot generates press and potential earnings for our architecture bureaus and construction companies. Is good business!

[@jattikuukunen]

@@Shifter_Cycling Dutch perspective: "The seabed is flooded. We should fix that!"

[@IceCreamLover-jy4fh]

My city doesn't have much weird bike infrastructure because there's barely any at all. When there's painted bike lanes they frequently disappear or move to different parts of the street to accommodate cars. There is one bike lane that has a buffer zone from cars which is really nice. What baffles me about this bike lane is that it ends and becomes a sharrow ON A HILL. It ends there because god forbid you give up the car parking on that side of the street. I don't even mind it being a sharrow once you're up the hill or on the side of the street going downhill, just get rid of the 10 or so parking spots and make my life a bit less stressful as I'm struggling to get up the hill

[@bruin0454]

Glad I'm not the only one forever confused by the Inglewood bike path 50/50 effort 😂 always cool to see Calgary reviewed in such detail!

[@NanaYPea]

There is only one stretch of road that has a bike lane in my city. Everywhere else, we move among cars. Lots of ‘streets’ don’t even have pavement. Scary

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Bike lanes need to be connected to be useful. One-offs are good for nobody.

[@Korina42]

@@Shifter_Cycling Well, it's good for the city official who can say, "Look! Bike infrastructure!" 🙄

[@MidjetTrainer]

I moved to Calgary about 2 years ago and have encountered all these weird pieces of infrastructure after doing some advocacy in Winnipeg. Lots more here, but it's a bit silly in places. The crossing the road to continue straight drives me nuts. Sometimes it's the best that can be done while shoehorning in active transport alongside motor traffic. Thanks for making great content!

[@dasme8210]

I'd still take weird infrastructure over non-existent in a heart beat

[@suzanneschreiner5145]

Absolutely, for the time being. But in the longer term, let's not settle for the crumbs of weird stuff. Let's insist on infrastructure for ALL, walking, biking, and transit users, and not just the droppings left over after drivers have had their every wish fulfilled. If the city is designed for cars first, then everybody is pressured to be a driver.

[@elemenopi55]

"weird" here, to me, seems to be describing infrastructure that reifies our collective consent (whether we're happy about consenting or not, whether we realize/admit we consent or not) that inconveniencing a car is more of a big deal than inconveniencing a cyclist or pedestrian. For example, in 1:44, the car is given a straight path, while the cyclist is given a tangled, unintuitive/confusing path. Doing so, and saying it's better than it was before, is concretizing the hierarchy of priority. Pathways for cycling are made to accommodate pathways for cars; why not the other way around? Pedestrians get beg-buttons at crosswalks and are made to wait for cars. why is it not the other way around? in my opinion, as long as we're talking about shared streets (and not highways, roads, or grade-separated path ways), since cars are literally fastest and take the least amount of (human) energy and are the most financially/environmentally/logistically inefficient way to travel, the hierarchy should be reversed. pedestrians should never have to stop and wait. bikes stop/wait for pedestrians. cars stop/wait for bikes. i think cars should wait more. a 5 minute car trip could take a pedestrian a half hour. your time shouldn't be treated as more important because you are in a car. if anything it makes your time less important because you have more of it. Sure, a cylclist using this type of infrastructure will be safer, while they're actually using it, which yeah, is important on a in-the-moment sense. but that's the only time. at all other times, you're actually worse off for it. building this kind of infrastructure makes it more dangerous to be a cyclist in every other moment, because even though it creates space for bikes, it reinforces the idea that cars are king and bikes must always accommodate them. this isn't really space given to bikes in the first place. it's more like "how do we make it look like we've given space to bikes without inconveniencing cars?" me, personally, the only way i can justify it is that it's a baby step towards progress (and sometimes thats the only way towards progress). it helps normalize bikes and space-sharing. so i mean, i kinda agree at the same time, that yeah, this type of infrastructure is better than nothing. it still feels like anyone who isn't in a car is a second-class citizen though.

[@SGuy889]

Guy obviously never been to UK. Jesus . We have medieval infrastructure

[@f1mbultyr]

That kind of complacency is exactly the reason why you will never get any nice things.

[@laurencefraser]

@@elemenopi55 Inconveniencing a car is better than inconveniencing a pedestrian or cyclest in general... but there is also the reality that a pedestrian or cyclest can handle weirder or more awkward solutions to a problem without it causing dangerous or fatal accidents than a car can to consider. I'll take slightly inconvenient but safe over convenient but dangerous in the majority of situations, and there are a heck of a lot more conflicts that are entirely resolvable by making pedestrians and cyclists do something slightly weird that, if one were to change what the cars were doing instead, would require both massively greater expenses and demolishing surrounding buildings. ... Mind you, sometimes the Correct solution is actually 'yeah, cars don't get to go here at All', or the like. That corkscrew ramp was just dumb. A longer, straight ramp would have been a vastly better idea (though, to be fair, to be practical it would probably require Two long straight ramps, one in each direction. Doesn't change how terrible the spiral ramp is) within the constraints of 'pedestrians need to be able to reach the transit stop which is in the middle of the highway' (or whatever). ... Mind you, that leads to the question 'why is your transit stop in the middle of the highway? (or similarly human hostile road)'. And the answer, if the transit in question is busses, is simply that that's the most practical and affordable way to actually provide good service to the area given the way roads are built in much of the USA. If it's a train? Usually 'getting a line built down the middle of the highway right of way is cheap and easy. Getting a line built through private land, no matter how much better it would be, costs many times more and takes years just to get the idiots to shut up about problems that don't even exist, let alone actually Do anything. At least in English speaking countries. And that's before the politicians start sticking their noses into it.

[@wolfgangweber9924]

I always enjoy your videos because you make a lot of sense. In Germany I encountered a floodprone underpass for pedestrians and bikes. They built a wall so the river can rise without flooding the path.

[@Filterbubble-rz7rf]

These are actually really cool. It always seems surreal to see the water surface next to you higher than the bike path. Also quite common in the Netherlands.

[@frankhooper7871]

@@Filterbubble-rz7rf Try walking across the Mozesbrug (Moses Bridge) in Halsteren, NL - really cool

[@alpd7638]

The majority of these can be explained as either: 1) municipal staff and\or civil engineers who have never ridden a bike making decisions, 2) engineers following standards without actually understanding them, 3) project boundaries, a future project will extend the infrastructure, 4) put it in now so it's there if we need it in the future. 5) we need to do so*something* for the optics

[@teddysometimes]

If anyone thinks you are "complaining too much" about these odd scenarios as a cyclist -- think about how much car infrastructure is built to avoid drivers having to go AROUND ONE BLOCK or wait 30 SECONDS. other road users (bikes, walkers, wheelchairs) are expected to do those things CONSTANTLY and more throughout disconnected facilities. its correct to critique the car-centric decision making. great video!

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Fourth comment, sorry for spamming this but damn I got a lot to say about this stuff. With the corkscrew overpass bike thing at 6:20 the problem isnt that the turns are so tight, the problem is firstly, the problem is that is too narrow for bikes and pedestrians to pass in 2 directions at the same time. It should be at least 50% wider to accomodate multi mode transportation. Also, why didnt they build a bike tunnel under the road instead? You now have to climb and go back down two full rotations to have enough clearance for trucks instead of having one rotation down that would have enough clearance for bikes and pedestrians (about 2,50m)

[@f1mbultyr]

The first problem is that cars go flat, pedestrians and cyclist should go up. That should never happen. Motor vehicles should ALWAYS be the ones passing over or under everyone else!

[@laurencefraser]

depending on where it is, such tunnels can become exhaust traps without rather more elaborate infrastructure than you'd think (they're fine for two lane roads that see moderate traffic. Heavy traffic on four lane roads? bit of a problem). Also becomes a problem if the ground is prone to flooding and such. Tunnels are also a lot more expensive to build if you're not willing to close the road for the duration to employ cut-and-cover construction. And then there's a bunch of psychological stuff, equal parts real and fearmongering propaganda, where such places are just more prone to crime and such than a bridge like that is. Mind you, if the location is suitable and it's actually built properly, pedestrian/bike tunnels are Absolutely still a better solution than silly bridges like that.

[@CnekYT]

As a Calgarian who has gotten involved with advocacy, good news is that the structure from the thumbnail is no longer allowed in Calgary - for all future developments, bike infrastructure has to be more accessible

[@CnekYT]

(Referring to "the corkscrew" structure at Bridgeland/Memorial Station)

[@Ladadadada]

Yep, we have all of those and more in London. I saw you using some of them when you came here. And for all the same reasons: road designers were either given limited space to work with in an existing road that was designed for cars 30 years ago or were saddled with constraints such as not being allowed to reduce the modelled "level of service" for cars when adding bike lanes (or at all, ever). One unique British invention I haven't seen elsewhere is the bike network in tunnels under a giant roundabout. If you visit London again, have a look at the bike network under the IMAX cinema in Waterloo, the roundabout next to Blackwall DLR station or the A406 roundabouts up in Chingford. Compared to having nothing they seem great, but compared to the way the Dutch handle these sorts of junctions they are a confusing maze of twists and turns just to continue straight on. The Blackwall DLR junction also includes spiral ramps but with chicane barriers halfway down because riding around a tight spiral is too easy! I can also show you a cycleway railway bridge underpass where the height is 1.5m. Everyone walking under it is crouched over.

[@shinnam]

Stockholm has a plethora of weird bike lane stuff. An early biking city, a few of the weird things come from before 1967, when Sweden switched from left side to right side driving.

[@dwfidler]

That green bike lane in the underpass at the same street height with the sidewalk is much closer to a Dutch solution than almost all other bike lanes in North America. In the Netherlands, bike lanes have a 3cm height difference with sidewalks with a rounded curb to separate them while bike lanes and auto lanes have a 15cm height difference. It's much easier to have bike lanes as part of continuous sidewalks if they're at sidewalk height, and bikes and pedestrians are much better to co-mingle than cars and bikes. Would love to see more of that design pattern in North America instead of bike lanes being treated as a lane in the roadway.

[@shm5547]

5:13 at least there's less of a hill to climb out of the bottom of the underpass with it being at sidewalk level

[@campbell820128]

Yes, I've seen similar designs in Dutch cycling infrastructure. There it's a deliberate choice to create a route that has less of a change in elevation for cyclists since they don't need as much headroom as a lorry

[@meowmeowmeow400]

I also feel like its safer... I would hate to be in that ditch right next to cars

[@shm5547]

@@meowmeowmeow400 yep, agree. I can imagine the air quality is poor too, as the fumes will sink into the dip and not disperse as readily

[@jattikuukunen]

the entrance to the sidewalk's level should be made more seamless. That looks quite dangerous especially driving with one hand.

[@carthychan820]

That spiral ramp at the LRT statin was built in the 80s to accommodate wheel chairs and strollers. I'm pretty sure back then no thought was given to cycling.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

I think you're probably correct, but taking a wheelchair, or even a stroller, up here would be madness.

[@codylittlefield7885]

@@Shifter_Cycling I'd be RIPPED if I had to roll a wheelchair up that thing daily.

[@jadinc77]

Those are weird... a few places in my city where I wouldn't mind even a weird solution though

[@Shifter_Cycling]

I hope weird solutions are temporary, until we start changing the system to make it connected and logical.

[@Dellvmnyam]

You're on point here. The last one with the left turn reminded me that in my country its illegal for cyclist to make a left turn if the road has more than two lanes or if there are tram tracks in the middle. But many cyclists ignore this rule and make a left turn if it's safe to do and I haven't heard of any cyclist that was stopped or fined for this.

[@sashagallaway1945]

in the introduction the tunnel with the bike lane is very normal in multiple cities I've been to. it might not be the best design but it's certainly not odd.

[@jattikuukunen]

I think it's not odd at all but the transition to it should be more seamless, and a bit more width wouldn't hurt.

[@sashagallaway1945]

@@jattikuukunen So true! normally when I see it there is a physical barrier, but people still walk in it anyway lol

[@johnduggan4993]

I live in the countryside in Korea, and by the nearest rail station , there is one of those corkscrew ramps at the end of a long dual-purpose pedestrian and bicycle bridge spanning a stream and then a major stroad. Definitely dismount and walk the bike. The railway and stroad overpasses in Seoul seem tougher, with zigzags and hairpin turns. Fortunately, many of these now have elevators, added to accomodate folks with reduced mobility.

[@Kristian-ob5fm]

Great vid. Makes me think that really all of us can be on the same team, team anti-traffic. Traffic sucks. The worst part is that the car-centric design doesn't even end up prioritizing the free flow of cars -- when everyone's forced to drive, there's just no way to engineer our way out of awful traffic. Even if I only wanted to drive to get around, I'd still want great bike / scooter / transit infrastructure so I wouldn't have to be stuck in traffic!

[@philollenberg]

Your channel just got recommended to me! Much of what you're showing is infrastructure from my (our?) neighbourhood that I use regularly. Cool!

[@CnekYT]

As a Calgarian, I instantly recognized where the thumbnail was from

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Thirdly, when you were so happy to finally drive on a "seperated" two way bike path there were many problems with that one too. To sum up: 1. the concrete seperation between the road and the bike lane was maybe 10cm high, a modern SUV or pickup truck can easily roll over that and kill you, making it still unsafe. 2. those pillars with the reflectors on them are made of plastic, you need reinforced concrete pillars. or better yet, trees! trees are great. they stop cars. they produce oxygen. they make streets look nice. 3. between the bike lane and the car road, there should be a small seperating grass border, even if its just 20-30cm of dirt in the middle of the concrete raised border, this visually makes it much more scary for cars to drive close to or over the border. 4. no traffic calming measures on the road so people will speed making it unattractive for bikers. i get you dont want to be too negative but as someone who has biked nearly daily in traffic my entire life i would not want to ride a bike on that seperated bike path and you should demand better.

[@SuperRat420]

If you want me safe but also allowing me to use the road as freely as a car, you will not separate me from traffic. That's some weekend rider bs

[@samsawesomeminecraft]

A very thoroughly separated bike lane or sidewalk like you described seems like a very nicely separated route but this kind of protection is politically very expensive and I think that political effort is better spent on expanding the lightly protected bike network rather than making the concrete armor around the bikes bigger. Plastic bollard preventing cars from encroaching on space for bikes will prevent more near-misses between cars and bikes per vote/dollar spent on bike infrastructure compared to making tree-protected or concrete bollard-protected bike lanes. Any solid structure (not paint) can create a dedicated space for bikes that a driver paying attention to the road would never enter (compared to paint that drivers regularly choose to cross). And once solid structures lightly protecting bikeways are in place for important bike travel routes, then it is worth considering adding car-stopping bollards or trees to bikeways (or, better and cheaper, removing car traffic completely from bike routes, which is pretty much point #4). Also, all of the protection you mentioned often disappears at intersections if the intersection is not protected.

[@mindstalk]

@@SuperRat420 Lycra road warrior BS. Most potential bike users have no desire to share a road with fast cars, and will bike only with physical protection. Providing such protection is why Japanese and Dutch cities have bike mode shares of 20-40+ percent, while North America trickles along at 1-3%. Not "weekend riders" but everyday utility biking by kids, elderly, people going along at 15 kph instead of 30.

[@SuperRat420]

@@mindstalk work me through the thought process where it would make sense for me to call YOU a weekend rider if IM the Lycra guy?

[@TheWampam]

And exactly this mindset will kill any form of real bicycle traffic as it will be never possible to completley seperate you from cars, if you actually want to go anywhere.

[@uranusjr]

I understand that honing their cycling stills isn’t a priority for most people, but I’m weird and unironically love switchback and corkscrew “bike stairs” when they come up.

[@BS-xs7jb]

I would say I’m okay on them but they just don’t leave much room for error, found myself going up a switchbacky thing on my road bike with clipless pedals the other day and I was terrified the entire way because it was super narrow and I wasn’t sure people coming down it could see me. We also have a corkscrew thing that is supposed to be only for cycling but then frequently pedestrians use it (probably because for them it is more convenient) and it causes a real problem.

[@uranusjr]

@@BS-xs7jb Best time to practice track stand and pivot turn!

[@RXP91]

I have one of those cork screw things in London (billet round about). I like the design there, it's been that way for decades & I just ring my bell a ton to warn I'm on the path

[@SadisticSenpai61]

It's a combination of bike and pedestrian infrastructure being very much an afterthought, but also a lack of funds for the needed infrastructure. Cars are very much prioritized and that's the problem.

[@geoffreyhoney122]

Thanks again Tom, for calling out "Cars Against Humanity"! We have many examples here in Hamilton. You should hear the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth at Council's decision to stop Pedestrian, Bicycle and yes even Car carnage by changing Main 'Street" from a 5 lane freeway through town to traffic calmed 2 way traffic with bike infrastructure where it connects to the existing network, wide pedesrian areas with greenery, even some Dutch style intersections. In 2021 we had record number pedestrian deaths but people driving cars don't want to lose their primacy, even when you point out the death/injury rate! Pathetic but I'm glad council had held firm, enlisted truly enlightened engineers and given planning staff the mandate to make it happen. Love the channel and that I finally got time to watch this excellent video!

[@grahamturner2640]

With the flood-prone pathway, why couldn’t they make a barrier on the side facing the river to minimize the amount of water getting in the area? And out in the Phoenix area, some river trails have underpasses in flood-prone areas, though at least floods are pretty rare. In the valley cities, there are also a few weird Route diversions, even on important bike routes. Along the “Sonoran Bikeway,” a route going from north to south Phoenix on a mix of city streets, suburban arterials, and off-street pathways. If you’re going south along 3rd Ave through midtown, once you reach Thomas Rd, you have to hightail it to 5th Avenue, either in the middle of a busy arterial road or on the sidewalk, and then continue south along 5th Avenue. Once you reach McDowell Rd, you can either stay on 5th Ave or try to hightail it back to 3rd Ave under similar conditions (there’s a 2-way path along 3rd Ave from Roosevelt St to McDowell Rd). I don’t know why the city couldn’t continue the 2-way path another mile to Thomas Rd. In Tempe, there’s a bike route going along one of the half-mile streets, though when the street crosses a railroad branch line, the street for cars does not go across the tracks (coming from the east, the street has a dead end, while coming from the west, the street turns left into another street). However, the sidewalk continues, though with a ridiculous amount of bollards. I’m sure one or two would’ve sufficed, but there’s almost a dozen just east of the tracks.

[@Screech9]

The two-way to one way split one really got to me. When I was first getting out more on my bike, the intersection you showed really messed with me. I wound up in the oncoming car lane and nearly got hit. I didn't even realize I was doing anything wrong until I was stuck between oncoming traffic and a concrete barrier getting honked at Edit: holy hell this video is just cataloging pretty much everything I've ridden recently

[@adamrhind2321]

Another great video! Thank you Tom for all that you do.

[@hfxbybike]

Weird infrastructure in Halifax: The Brunswick Street Painted Lanes (one way each lane) ostensibly connect to the Rainnie Protected Lanes (bidirectional), but there's no way to go from Brunswick onto Rainnie in the outbound direction (without doing some dangerous/legally dubious maneuvers). Macdonald Bridge Bikeway: only accessible from the road running under the bridge via a corkscrew ramp. If you wanted to something weird like come off the bridge on your way to anywhere other than downtown, you have to take the ramp down the hill and then climb back up the same hill somewhere else (generally 1-2km away).

[@paulmcewen7384]

Cheers from Edmonton. Love the videos man, always entertaining. We also have a weird corkscrew pedestrian bridge in Edmonton (over the river and not a stroad at least). I lived in Vancouver, and they also have several. Super tricky for non bike jedi. I like the switch-backy thing. I know it isn't peak bike lane design but it looks sort of fun to ride.

[@cre-kate-ive]

Most of the "weird bike infrastructure" where I'm from are cases of the disappearing bike lane. One ends between two entrances to a giant grocery store parking lot on Main Street. One ends just before a slip lane turn before a 4 way intersection. I moved to a slightly more bike friendly city and now my main frustration is that people in cars don't know how to drive and constantly block bike infrastructure. And that bikes are banned from parks but parks are the only area protected from cars.

[@IamTheHolypumpkin]

We have a somewhat similar corkscrew overpass. Not over a road but a habour bay. But this one is designed much better. The radius is probably wider. The path too. The path even has some banking so you can go down at speed. It a lot of fun.

[@lbergen001]

These 'solutions' are very wierd and the excuses you mentioned and mayby used by the city authorities are proof of bad and half-baked policy. But what makes me really mad is the worn off marking on the street and the lack of street marking for bicycles on crossing. For me it clearly signals "we don't give a fck about bicycles". Disgusting 🤢

[@sreeser3512]

My immediate response after seeing the majority of these is, "This isn't safe, let alone practical, so I guess I'm using the general vehicle lane." Not sure what the laws are in Calgary; I'm fortunate that none of the states (US) I frequent legally expect a cyclist to use a marked bike lane if it is hazardous. If that's not in line with the city's intentions in building infrastructure like this, maybe the leadership of the transportation authority and the city as a whole should reexamine their constraints, expectations, and priorities.

[@jasonarthurs3885]

Similar in Canada; however, cyclists are not legally obligated to use bike infrastructure, hazardous or not. My morning commute has me vehicular cycling on a 4 lane stroad for scant 100 metres. This stroad is crossed by an 4 lane arterial and I always encounter a red light at this intersection (often, I am the lead vehicle awaiting the green light). I'm in the centre lane as I need to make a left turn at the next traffic light - just 100 meters further ahead. This is far too short a span to accommodate 3 lane changes whilst also keeping tabs on the action in the merging slip lane on my right. This stretch is further confounded in the curb lane due to a second, exiting righthand slip lane into a shopping plaza parking lot at the 60 metre mark, which often sees motorists performing the risky manoeuvers I describe above, but in reverse - presenting yet another risk to using that slice of infra. I avoid it because it's hazardous; I'd also avoid it if it was safe because it simply does take me where I wish to go.

[@SkipGole]

The weirdest bike infrastructure I’ve ridden through are on bike paths connecting streets. These paths have bridges which have a 90 degree hard turn onto them with the same exit angle. I’ve fallen twice on them with the worst being at 3 miles/5 km per hour. I’ve had to do a lot of physical therapy on that injured shoulder. Why engineer pedestrian/bicycle bridges this way? Even at slow speeds they are dangerous. They have had a very bad design process. The examples, and your comments, demonstrate how a lack of understanding for how a bike moves through its environment affects safety. There should be no question raised about how a bike should move through the environment, but, unfortunately, there are questions.. Better creation, through planning and design, of safe spaces to ride is a very common problem. Thanks for the video!

[@VanSanProductions]

Our city is installing "transitional cycleways" that are mostly unprotected and extremely narrow. They go from the city to the suburbs but all those streets are very narrow. It's a tough problem to deal with.

[@luciampcd2989]

Great video! I have the feeling you are very polite by calling those examples weird rather than outrageous 😂 There are a ton of them in Madrid where I live, the only reason there aren't more is that there is hardly any bike infrastructure to begin with!

[@Nofearr01]

As i grow up in communist Yugoslavia,as a kid i loved to ride bike and,imagine this,we actually had bike lanes all around the city. Today,i am 46,country is not communist anymore but behold! Theres no single bike lane in the whole town. Even those who existed 30-40 years ago are destroyed to make space for cars.... To summarize,honestly i would like even weird lanes for bicycles in my city....

[@Shifter_Cycling]

This is such an interesting story that I've not heard before. Which city are you in?

[@Nofearr01]

@@Shifter_Cycling Smederevska Palanka, Serbia -exYugoslavia

[@thomasrdiehl]

I was involved in deciding over a very similar structure to that initial underpass and what might have happened is the same thing that happened in my town: There was public infrastructure underneath but the road was being lowered to allow trucks to pass through. However, because that infrastructure (I think the drainage of the bridge above) was there and couldn't be lowered, some of the space had to stay at the original height, resulting in an arrangement like this.

[@citteh]

Heya, just wanted to chime in. I used to live across the road from the exact corkscrew thing you are talking about and there are so many design problems with the pedestrian access here that people will genuinely cross the 6 lanes of traffic and the two train lines to avoid that overpass. I am genuinely shocked I didn't see anybody literally die there while crossing. Also if you think that corkscrew sucks on a bike try it on rollerblades. MISTAKE!

[@user-lp9mh2rn4k]

Another great informative video, Tom! Also I love your bike. If only I werent 6'5" I could buy one.

[@mohedaicebear]

This is the best video about how infrastructure that's not thinking about bikers and pedestrians is super incomplete. All car infrastructure has a planned start and end and is perfect countinues with no issues but how dare bikers have the same.

[@een_schildpad]

Wow, great perspective at the end!! It's about how we build our cities and what we prioritize 💯 After getting to know my local planner I agree, they can only work within the broader priorities set for them. I think that's why building popular support through advocacy groups is important, because it gives politicians cover for changing those priorities.

[@eamonnca1]

That one at the start is okay with me because it doesn’t dip as low as the vehicle lanes, and doesn’t give you a steep climb back out of it.

[@GD-my5hm]

Subbed. Hope the rest of your vids are as interesting as this one.

[@carrtoonist]

That 17th ave bike box really is the worst. Not only is it confusing, but then you have to ride 3 blocks with no bike lane and THEN also figure out how to cross elbow drive. Plus there is a protected bike lane that goes all the way to the elbow river pathway just two block from that one. Another annoying one is the 3rd ave double lane to single lane on either side with the diagonal crossing.

[@jakeeschen7868]

My city recently constructed a bike lane protected from through traffic on the left but with continued parking spaces on the right. The new protected area narrows the space in which bicycles can pass. This street "improvement" forces bicyclists to ride in the door zone.

[@jasonschubert6828]

I have ridden on a road north-west of Melbourne that is single traffic lane, single bike lane plus left turning lanes at intersections with the bike lane on the left (closest to the kerb for RHD vehicles). When the lights change to green there is a bike light initially, which is great if you happen to be waiting in the intersection, however if you are still heading towards the intersection with the bike light green, it suddenly turns off without warning and _at the same time_ cars get a green light allowing them to turn across in front of you!

[@jessebrook1688]

Edmonton has corkscrew paths up to cross the river using a transit bridge. The height difference is considerable, about 10m, but at least the corkscrews are wide enough for two bikes to pass going either way. The new rail bridges and car bridges with bike/walking paths below just have a slight hill towards them. The lower mainland bicycling infrastructure has that same narrow corkscrew path, but you get to it on surface streets with painted lanes, and from it with a nice separated path that connects to painted lanes. That's the case with a lot of the Vancouver area's bicycling infrastructure, bad connections and painted lanes. But the trail riding is incredible.

[@lufromcalab]

I've ridden through many of these intersections and areas and can say that much of it is because pathways were an after thought, because many of these roads and bridges were built 50 or more years ago, when the amount of traffic in this city was far lower, and bicycles were not a commuter option that was used by many people. It's only in the last 10 or so years that the city has started trying to add cycle routes into a roadway design that they can't redesign without having to spend billions of dollars to rip up railroads, bridges and buildings. When I used to ride to downtown from Bowness, I could do the ride in about 30 minutes, and the start and end of my ride was on roads, with the long middle using the pathway along the Bow river. Since moving out to the south end of town (162nd and MacLeod), nearly 100% of my ride is going to be switching back and forth across MacLeod Trail a couple times, then through various neighbourhoods, until I get downtown. That route suggests that it's about 75 minutes of riding. It's either that, or I ride down through Fish Creek, and follow the pathway, at 5:30 in the morning, through homeless encampments and a winding pathway that suggests that I will be 90 minutes or more on my ride. Doing much of that in the dark is not at the top of my list of things to do each day. And that 90 minutes is best estimate, if I am able to maintain a decent average speed of about 19km/h through the whole ride. I've clocked my speed on some flat rides around our area of town, and I can keep up about 15 km/h for about 1 hour. That means that to ride to work, at an average speed of 15 km/h, it's going to take me about 2 hours to get to and from work. That means I'm leaving at 5:00am, to get to work, just in time, and leaving work at 4:00pm to get home by 6:00pm. That ends up being a 13 hour day, revolving around work, and I'm not willing to commit that much time.

[@quilynn]

Oh, I used to walk on that exact street with the "Copenhagen left" at 10:20! I'd usually walk that way when I had to get north of the river. As a pedestrian, that cut out on the sidewalk made no sense to me, it seemed bizarre and I'd always just hop off the sidewalk for those 2 metres instead of follow the curve around it. I appreciate the explanation for why that exists! Definitely something that I experienced as bizarre as a pedestrian, because I'd have to walk around it, but I think as a cyclist on that street it would make more sense.

[@MarekKubica]

It's quite interesting to someone living and biking in Copenhagen that these left turns are called "Copenhagen lefts" because the only one of these I know is now is actually not even in Copenhagen proper, the only one I know is in Fredriksberg, an enclosed city inside Copenhagen (which also tends to have worse bike infrastructure because rich people rather drive cars).

[@hisforhack]

Most road system within North American Cities were designed many years ago, Bikes lanes where not even a consideration, Today when you ask the designer to integrate bike lines into the old road system, you get weirdest. We need to press City designers than when new roads or major upgrades to old roads are build that Bikes Lanes and Pedestrians lanes are integrated in to the New designs not a after thought.

[@mikeanderson6881]

We also overlook the fact that, all the time, the cars are in the middle and the bikes and pedestrians are at the edges. That means that bikes and pedestrians frequently face the problem of how to cross lanes of traffic, but cars rarely have to worry about crossing cycle paths or walking paths.

[@katebeemakes]

In my city, the weird bike infrastructure that annoys me the most is a bike lane over a bridge that just ends a third of the way across. There are no signs warning people that the bike lane ends, and the cars are going at high speeds. Apparently, theres a pedestrian and cyclist bridge nearby that youre supposed to take instead, but the route to get there isnt visible and no signage indicates where you should go. Just terrible infrastructure.

[@Cpt.WD-69]

Poland, Warsaw here. We have a car tunnel here that is being flooded. It was created to allow pedestrians , and bikers access the vistula river

[@bjmaston]

This is a great topic for a video. I have often asked myself the same question: who designs this stuff, what is their connection (if any) to cycling, and who do they think they are designing for?

[@jasonlenfesty6459]

I actually really like the corkscrew attachments. I always look forward to them when riding that way. They have 2 on the south end of the Golden Ears bridge south of Maple Ridge. What I found annoying was the incredible amount of noise from traffic. That is something that can be engineered out ASAP.

[@Twilink36]

The corkscrew thing needs to be much wider to work. Both the path itself and the infrastructure, so that visibility is better and users have plenty of space to navigate.

[@jattikuukunen]

I think it needs to be a tunnel instead.

[@judgegixxer]

I’ve ridden skateboards around cities since I was a kid and got an electric board a year ago. To me the corkscrews and detours just make it more fun.

[@gabebikes]

Always enjoy your videos!

[@indigobunting5041]

I recently found out why a bike path in my town suddenly stops in some woods and restarts in a nearby park. It turned out there was a property dispute where that short missing section of path was planned to be.

[@har234908234]

Nice work, Shifty. That corkscrew is a real worry... cyclists in two directions mixed with pedestrians that can't be seen around corners. Stuff is more likely to be improved if people use it, so...

[@iamwhatitorture6072]

So, where I live (in germany) most of these things are not happening. But I do see pedestrian/bike overpasses here too and you hit the nail on the head. Like: you're asking people walking and cycling to travel like, probably 80 metres (~260ft) more and cycling uphill is a lot harder too. meanwhile a car doesn't care and if you have a wide enough dip, they don't even have to slow down.

[@TheSkystrider]

Awesome video man!

[@alannadB]

I also like that copenhagen left! I've used it a few times in the last couple weeks and it works great. (Leading up to it is real bad though - hopefully their nice plans for the train crossing go through). The other weird thing with the corkscrew is that they built a new ramp on the other side and it seems fine until you try to take the first corner on your 9ft long cargo bike but the physics dont physic. They literally made it too tight and i have to reverse and try again. It's wild!

[@rogink]

By far the weirdest cycle infrastructure I've ever come across is in Eindhoven - OK weird for the Netherlands. It's called the floating roundabout, or something like. It's a cycle roundabout suspended above a busy road junction. The feeling cycling it is almost surreal - you genuinely feel like you are the apex traveller, not the drones in their cars below!

[@bengeertsema1348]

I live in Washington DC and we have a lot of traffic circles where a bunch of streets converge. A lot of these streets have bike lanes up until the circles and then they just end like "good luck lol"

[@DinoCon]

Not gonna lie, going down a big concrete swirly spiral slide on a bike looks like it'd be pretty fun in isolation.

[@amymagdaleneta]

There's tiny roads in rural spain that are technically fords, it's just the river isn't usually there (only when it rains heavily), they usually only connect 10 residences to the village proper, and there's a way to get around the flooded section

[@katieoflaherty4860]

On my commute every day, I go down a road that in theory has two painted bike lanes (one on each side), but in practice is not wide enough for two cars plus two bikes, so all the cars just drive in the bike lane. The bike lanes gave me a false sense of security until I realised all the cars were in there too…

[@wandamaddox7824]

You are lucky to have any of that stuff for bicycles. Try riding or commuting out in West Texas. Down here you have to adopt a Kamikaze style to get anywhere. I mean running red lights; riding through yards and muddy alleys; going against traffic; jumping curbs and riding stairs; riding on sidewalks (when there are any) - literally any illegal or shady shit you can come up with.

[@PhyllisBoone-sn8oi]

I think that your observations validate the observations of John Forrester in "Effective Cycling" that separate cycling facilities add to the confusion of "who belongs where" when using roadways. Cycling using the road like motorized traffic according to Uniform Vehicle Codes makes the movement of all traffic predictable and visible to each other on the road.

[@gervasegallant]

Yeah the flood plain pathway... one of the first "infrastructure" items to get implemented. When it does rain, you'll have to ride the bus.

[@kimmeier6402]

I moved to Houston from Vancouver via a few years in Seattle. It's absolutely nuts here. The bike lanes don't connect with the (small but promising) light rail system at all, and I suspect it's for the reasons in this video. Most recently the mayor has spent something like $1M ripping up infrastructure that cost $100k put in less than a year ago because people couldn't turn left into a church parking lot anymore. "People weren't consulted" he says - he means it didn't prioritize cars.

[@Bismvth]

Within the next month the City of Calgary will be releasing Phase 3 of their City Building engagement program, which is supposed to include the draft Street Manual, a document aimed at creating some guidelines around design and space usage on streets, and probably some priority projects for active transportation infrastructure! If anyone in Calgary is passionate about doing better, make sure you stay engaged and get involved! Other cities likely have similar documents, similar plans, or if they don't - tell them to make some, or, get together some friends and do it for them!

[@kevinandrew_]

As weird as all of this is, Winnipeg has to take the win in the prairies. Two of the North/South "routes" on the north side of the city (McPhillips and Main), are just diamond lanes (shared with buses, and cars are still allowed to park in them outside of rush hour, another topic in it's own right). However, as both these roads cross a railroad underpass, the diamond lane suddenly ends, so you are forced to either use the very narrow pedestrian sidewalk, or suddenly merge into moving car traffic. Not even a cyclist+transit priority traffic light signal at the intersection(s) right before the underpass so you can get ahead either. Sadly the north side of town is lower income and could probably benefit more from bike infrastructure than the south side, yet what they get is generally better and well connected and we get shafted over and over.

[@jumbolarge108]

Amazing to see a showcase of all the quirks of Calgary’s bike network. In short, it’s car priority!

[@hebijirik]

In my home city they recently opened and underpass for a shared bicycle/pedestrian path under a 4-lane ringroad. Side note: 4 lanes might not sound like much to some but here in central Europe that is normally as big as roads get in a city. The underpass itself has a weird one end because it runs parallel to a railroad track that is technically still not decomissioned so the law requires a right angle crossing for pedestrians and cyclists or something like that. So you get two almost zero radius 90 degree turns at one end of the underpass after you climb from under the ring road. What is the weirdest part about it thow is that it took 20 years to build and several people died in the meantime trying to cross the road. Around year 2000 the original plan to build a traffic light with a crossing there was rejected because it would either disrupt the flow of cars or it would need a 400m long cable to connect and synchronize with the nearest intersection traffic lights. This was back then estimated to cost over 1 million CZK and the people in power considered this too much, people dying was cheaper I guess. So then they kept postponing any solution at all and when they finally built this underpass it ended up about 20x more expensive than the original plan was. An underpass is better I think, even with stupidly steep ramp on one end and the stupid turns on the other not so steep end, because you have no waiting, no red light jumping etc. But we might have had a way to cross that road 20 years sooner for 20x less tax money and some people might have been alive today instead of being run over by a car. That is hard to swallow.

[@missmolliepink]

We had a bike path under a major road/stroad that flooded at every significant high tide. I had to plan my commute to coincide with low tide when tides were expected to be over 6 ft. Or choose the longer route. LOL Good news! My city fixed it. It is wider, the bridge also has two way bike lanes on both sides, and it never floods, even during king tides in a storm!

[@pollyhasanasbo]

Glasgow has so many of these: ramps with super tight hairpins, giant corkscrew ramps, ramps with steps in them?? Or my favourite route: park, wrong way down a one lane street or through an unpaved lane or on a horrible multi lane road, turn, no bike lane one block, separated one way bike lane going AWAY from the city centre one block, separated two lane bike lane one block, sudden shared pedestrian crossing to bike lane on other side of the road, amazing bike junction with grab rails and leading signal, dumped out into minor road angled away from oncoming traffic, onto the pavement, over a giant ~3 story corkscrew ramp over the motorway, back into a very confusing pedestrian area where i'm convinced I must be missing something, through a pedestrian crossing, and back into a reasonably sensible separated bike lane. Honestly gives me a headache, and puts me off riding to the city centre because it's so convoluted and slow! As you say definitely a symptom of prioritising cars, even though they can go further faster and so are probably better designed for doing weird manoeuvres to clear the way for cyclists and pedestrians!

[@johnhickie1107]

In NE Calgary the city put in some park land by the major North South highway, apparently designed to allow people in the factories nearby to go for walks at lunchtime. There are trees planted and some paths. And people do use it at lunchtime. There is a short path that connects two quiet streets. But the parks people didn't want to put ramps to make it easy to get onto that path about 80 M long, "in case" bikes interfered with pedestrians. During commuting hours, I've seen exactly one person on that path in 8 years. That was purposeful pig-headed stupidity. Plenty of space, cyclists and pedestrians use the roads and path at different times of the day.