[sustran] Minimum and maximum lane widths for arteria

[Gihon.Jordan at phila.gov]

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Subject: Re[2]: [sustran] Minimum and maximum lane widths for arteria
Author:  Charles Denny at ~MSCP01
Date:    12/3/97 1:49 PM


     Gihon did you resopnd to the question about our City using 3m(10') 
     lanes  on major arterials (Broad St.)?


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Subject: Re: [sustran] Minimum and maximum lane widths for arterials 
Author:  Gihon Jordan at ~MSCP01
Date:    12/3/97 9:40 AM


     
The City of Philadlephia uses 10 foot wide lanes on arterials.  Broad Street has
an ADT of 50,000 and is 10-10-10-9-10-10-10 feet wide lanes with center turn 
lanes.  There are peak hour no-parking clearences of the curb lanes in the 
direction of peak traffic.   We have many one-way 26 feet wide streets that have
parking on one curb and are used two lanes and are signalized corridors.   We 
have one-way, 30,000 ADT, 44 feet wide arterials that stripped 7-10-10-10-7. 
Some of the lanes may actually be narrower in spots.   These 44 feet streets do 
have a crash problem and are not friendly to drive or bicycle.     
        Hope this is useful.  Gihon        


There are some bicycle design criteria here.  Eric 
     
---------- Forwarded message ---------- 
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 1997 10:56:24 +0800 (MYT) 
From: Paul Barter <tkpb at barter.pc.my> 
Reply-To: sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org 
To: sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org
Cc: Andre Pettinga <adpet at knoware.nl>
Subject: Re: [sustran] Minimum and maximum lane widths for arterials in urban 
areas
     
Dear Rajeev Saraf
     
>For Delhi, while redesigning the road cross section to accomodate bicycle 
>tracks, we had proposed 3.0m wide lanes. But there was a strong 
>resistance for few people, who said that we could not have lanes in 
>urban  areas of width less than 3.5m.
>I would like to if lanes of 3.0m have been implemented anywhere and what 
>impact does it have on safety, speed and capacity? How have the codes in 
>various countries dealt with lane widths? Any repsonse is welcome. 
>thanks.
>
     
I believe you are asking about the width of the traffic lanes not the 
bicycle lanes/tracks.  I am not an engineer, so I can't answer you in great 
detail.  But I think that many cities around the world do accept urban 
traffic lanes of less than 3.5 metres.
     
I have just had a look at CROW Record 10, "Sign up for the bike: Design 
manual for a cycle-friendly infrastructure" (Centre for Research and 
Contract Standardization in Civil and Traffic Engineering - The 
Netherlands). [available from C.R.O.W.,  P.O. Box 37, NL-6710 BA EDE, The 
Netherlands. Tel. +31 8380 20410, Fax: +31 8380 21112].   This study gives 
much detail on the pragmatic Dutch approach to designing for bicycles.  I 
notice a number of examples in this report which show traffic lanes of 3.0 
metres.  But  I suspect that these are in rather low-speed environments (in 
old parts of cities).  I am cc'ing this to Andre Pettinga, who was involved 
in writing the CROW Record 10. Perhaps he can provide the technical answer 
that you require.
     
It should also be remembered that road engineering standards should be used 
as guidelines and not as divine law.  Accepting lane widths slightly below 
"standard" may well cause some problems.   BUT if  you can show that there 
are greater safety and efficiency benefits of the new road design then we 
should not let the standards stop us from at least having a trial of the 
improvement.
     
Best wishes,
     
A. Rahman Paul BARTER
Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific (SUSTRAN) 
c/o Asia Pacific 2000, PO Box 12544,   50782 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 
Fax: +603 253 2361, E-mail: <tkpb at barter.pc.my> 
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