Protected Intersections ~ Key for Urban Bicycling

Pascal van den Noort at VeloMondial spots Nick Falbo's Protected Intersections video... Nick does a good job synthesizing lessons-learned from Dutch designs including those noted by two of my favorite cycle blogs, Mark Wagenbuur's BicycleDutch and David Hembrow's View From the Cycle Path.

London Moves ~ Wood Visually Analyzes Biking!

Graham Southorn at HERE Three Sixty write about City life exposed: The science of bike sharing and spotlights Prof Jo Wood speaking at TEDxEastEnd on how London Moves...

More NL Junctions ~ Showing Before + After...

Mark Wagenbuur at BicycleDutch does a very nice before + after view of a busy intersection in Utrecht which has just been reconstructed and modernized. This is arguably the latest in Dutch cycling infrastructure and this video builds on his earlier illustrations of Dutch Junction and Safe Intersection design...

"There is a whole range of solutions for safer intersections, but for an urban area like this one -- with relatively narrow streets and a lot of traffic -- this design -- with protected cycleways all around the intersection -- is really best."

ECO Cycle ~ Culture Above, Function Below!

Japanese construction design and equipment maker GIKEN created the ECO Cycle robotic underground bike storage system. I've spotlit this before, but it's such a great solution that it's worth viewing their extended promo video...

CycloCable ~ Reengineered Bike Escalator!

Steph at WebUrbanist spots that Norway's Trampe has been reengineered and rebranded as the CycloCable...

"Trampe is the world's first bicycle lift intended for urban areas. The prototype was built in 1993. During its 15 years of operation, Trampe pushed more than 200,000 cyclists up the 130m long hill Brubakken in Trondheim. Already from the beginning, it became one of the most popular tourist attractions."

The creation and venture escalation story is compelling...

"The inventor of the Bicycle Lift [...] Jarle Wanvik, is a true bicycle enthusiast. He always finds an excuse for parking his car and using his bicycle instead. [...] In 1992, Wanvik got luminous visions about a bicycle lift that could carry cyclists uphill. Inspired by the ski lift technology, he visualized a lift design by which the cyclists could be pushed uphill without having to descend the bicycle. [...] Wanvik joined forces with the experienced mechanical engineer Stein Løvold and the electrical engineer Magnar Wahl. The local ski lift manufacturer, Protek AS, was picked to manufacture and assemble the world’s first bicycle lift. More than 2.000 people enjoyed the opening ceremony of Trampe on August 18 1993. 15 years and 220.000 trips later it was time to renew the lift. In 2010, the POMA GROUP contacted Design Management AS. After having tested Trampe they asked for a worldwide license. The license agreement was signed on the July 22 2011. Trampe had been authorized by DNV (Det Norske Veritas) in 1994. However, in spite of no accidents during 15 years of operation, International Cableway authorities claimed a more secure design for the next generation of lifts. The answer was CycloCable, a new bicycle lift developed by SKIRAIL (a company member of POMA GROUP), and Design Management AS. CycloCable is based upon the same patent as Trampe but with new, retractable foot plates. The CycloCable in Trondheim is the very first installation of its kind, so Trondheim keep on being the true pioneer of bicycle lifts."

Safe Intersections ~ NL Junction Design Learnings

Mark Wagenbuur at BicycleDutch builds upon earlier posts to delve into Junction design in the Netherlands this time responding to urgings and interpretations from van Veen, Hembrow, Falbo, and Furth (and serious misunderstandings from Washington, DC and Christchurch, NZ). Bottom-line...

"There is an array of measures from which Dutch road designers can choose what is best for a particular situation. But in busy and older down town areas in larger cities there is often no space for the more elaborate measures with detours and tunnels or overpasses. And although even there we see an increasing number of roundabouts, this type of junction design -- a crossroads with cycle paths around it, most often signalised -- will remain the safest solution for a lot of places in the Netherlands. Since many cities in the world have such signalised junctions, this solution to make cycling safer might work there too."

Plus, here's Falbo's interpretation for US Protected Intersections...

Cycle Path Details ~ Micro Design Really Matters!

Copenhagenize has nice video series on cycling infrastructure with latest installment spotlighting Micro Design ~ Top 10 Design Elements in Copenhagen's Bicycle Culture... One of my favorite nuggets is their Hold On+Foot Rest...

"The City of Copenhagen has implemented this double railing simply as a convenience for the cyclists who stop here. A high railing to grasp with your hand and a foot railing for putting your foot up..."

Mark Wagenbuur from BicycleDutch has numerous posts on cycle path details, including Drainage in NL...

"With so many people cycling in the Netherlands and with the average amount of precipitation in their country, the Dutch need a system that keeps the infrastructure dry without endangering all those people cycling. And of course the Dutch have such a system. Key difference to some of the other systems of the world is that the openings for rain water to get into the sewer system are not horizontally in the street surface, but vertically set in the kerbs [...] As a cyclist you do not have to ride over these openings that way and that makes all the difference."

David Hembrow's View From the Cycle Path spots many details, including latest piece on Bollards, both horrible and acceptable examples...

"Bollards appear primarily where cycling routes meet driving routes. They're also used to prevent minor roads from being used for through journeys (segregating modes without a cycle-path and helping to unravel driving routes from cycling routes) and in other places, for example to discourage parking of cars where they are not wanted."

Latest designs include flexible bollards... And this David Hembrow piece on Angled Curbs...

"Parallel kerbs can be quite dangerous for cyclists. A slight lapse of concentration and you can be off your bike, and possibly injured badly [...] The kerb shown here is one of many "forgiving" 45 degree kerbs in use in Assen. These kerbs make it possible to cross from the cycle path to the pedestrian path without falling from your bike. They reduce the risk of injury due to a lapse of concentration."

And here Mark spotlights David's video of NL's red cyclepath construction...

Iyesa Express ~ Sizwe Nzima's Rx Cycle Delivery

The BBC spotlights Sizwe Nzima, South African entrepreneur building up Iyesa Express pharmaceuticals delivery venture in Cape Town...

"Collecting medicine from a hospital or clinic-based dispensary in some of South Africa's townships is no mean feat. There is the cost of transport to the facility, often hours spent queuing, the cost to have someone look after children left at home, or the loss of pay because of missing work. But for the elderly and infirm, it can be a nightmare because they physically find it impossible to travel. Now Sizwe Nzima, a young man from the township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, has started a business which has seen him win a Forbes Magazine award as one of Africa's best young entrepreneurs."