Toronto Star: How one French town deals with the inevitable car-bicycle rivalry

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How one French town deals with the inevitable car-bicycle rivalry
We’re so entrenched in our road war that cars, bikes and pedestrians are bound to scrap

Published On Sun May 30 2010
By Bill Taylor Columnist


ROANNE, FRANCE—There’s more than one way to segregate a bike lane.

Because of councillor Paula Fletcher’s self-admittedly miscast ballot, Toronto city council has voted down a summer-long plan to reserve one lane in each direction on University Ave. for cyclists. A metre-wide barrier would have kept other traffic well clear.

It was a controversial but not particularly radical idea.

On at least one street in Roanne, a pleasant town northwest of Lyon, the barrier is made up of parked cars. The parking lane is outside the bike lane, ensuring that no one leaves a car next to the curb, forcing cyclists out into the traffic.

Someone in Roanne’s infrastructure office was thinking, if not outside the box, then certainly beyond the conventional layout of a city street.

Admittedly, this was the first time, even in France, I’d ever seen such an arrangement. Nor is it universal in Roanne. And, before any mayoral candidates start getting on their high horse — or bicycle — I’m not suggesting it would work on University Ave. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/816124--how-one-french-town-deals-with-the-inevitable-car-bicycle-rivalry?bn=1