[sustran] Re: resend: Shared space and safe chaos

[Chris Bradshaw]

Paul,

Sharing = chaos = reduced speeds.

Further to my followup on CURBBBBs, I can now point to a local
implementation of this concept.

Here in Ottawa in the mid-1980s, we took at six-lane commercial downtown
street, Rideau Street, and made it a transit mall, with only one lane in
each direction, exclusively for buses.  The extra space was converted to
wider sidewalks along a two-block section to accommodate
h-u-g-e transit shelters and provide the same climate-controlled environment
as the just-built Rideau Centre three-level mall provided in the area
adjacent.  These shelters masked the heritage facade of the buildings they
were fronting and attracted "certain elements" to the spaces to hang out,
including dealing drugs.  Certain stores facing on the street -- who had
demanded the construction of the shelter system in the first place -- now
demanded that they be dismantled.  They wanted "their street back" and they
wanted a second lane on each side for motor traffic.

After fighting over whom should pay for the work (not to mention paying the
bills left over from the shelter's original construction), the switch was
made in the mid-90s.

The four-lane compromise left a problem for accommodating cyclists.  The
transit authority didn't want them in their exclusive lane along the curbs
(although taxis were belatedly allowed), so the planners provided for them
to ride in the centre of the two mixed traffic lanes adjacent to the
centreline.  Using international signage principles (popular here, since we
are a French and English city, as well as a capital city, with lots of
embassies within a kilometre), the lane has overhead signs with a cyclist on
a bike surrounded by a thick green circle (meaning permitted).  It is not on
the right side of the lane, but over its centre.

Even though the term CURBBBBB (Cars Under Restraint for Bikes, Boards,
Blades, and Bus Boardings) wasn't coined at that time -- and the lane is not
near the curb or used only by cyclists -- it works.

For four blocks (about 0.4 km), drivers know to slow down when appraoching a
cyclist from behind, and the cyclists have learned to go a little faster
than usual, and to "take the lane" (riding in the centre) for the duration.

My wife and I just moved to this part of town, and for the first time I find
myself using it regularly on my new Brompton folding bike (I have used
folding bikes exclusively for 36 years, but decided in June to treat myself
to the best of the lot -- their virtues are worthy of a "'thread" on this
listserv).

Chris Bradshaw
Ottawa