Road upgrades without considering cyclists

[mountainbikingsouthafrica]

Two of our favourite dirt roads in Plettenberg Bay are going to be upgraded to tar.(Airport to N2 and N2 to Wittedrift) Good news for motorists. No cyclist or cycling group was consulted in the decision and therefore no provision was made for them. Please read and protest by mailing your objection to marriane.lesch@westerncape.gov.za and smouts@jgi.co.za .

Road numbers DR1770 and MR395

Contact info@mountainbikingsouthafrica.com for more details on this matter

Edited September 3, 2013 by mountainbikingsouthafrica

[Hairy]

Two of our favourite dirt roads in Plettenberg Bay are going to be upgraded to tar.(Airport to N2 and N2 to Wittedrift) Good news for motorists. No cyclist or cycling group was consulted in the decision and therefore no provision was made for them. Please read and protest by mailing your objection to marriane.lesch@westerncape.gov.za and smouts@jgi.co.za .

Road numbers DR1770 and MR395

 

Ok, you need to be more specific here.

 

1. Are the new roads not allowing for a safe shoulder for cyclists

2. Are you objecting to graded dirt roads being upgraded to tar and thereby leaving you without a graded dirt road to cycle on

3. What exactly is the problem with you not being consulted as this is seems to be a link road between two destinations and the N2?

[Big H*]

I cannot see what makes your own "cycling routes" so special?????? Placing a wearing course the route is upgrading the route. Decisions for an upgrade like this is based on traffic counts, safety and economic viability. Do you comply to any of these?

 

Silly post

[madbradd]

You have some of the most spectacular single/jeep track in the country.... why on earth would you want to ride on the public dirt roads?

[quintonb]

I may be reading this wrong, but I think what the OP is trying to say is that the local counsel/municipality decided to tar these roads and maybe should have considered a cycle lane or something alike. This would have been fairly easy to do up front as opposed to doing it later.

 

We have a similar issue in Hillcrest along Inanda road, they are doing massive upgrades and our local cycle safe group has been trying to get the local council to design cycle specific lanes into the upgrade.

There are a lot of commuting cyclist already using this route. Council has not even once shown interest in being proactive and forward thinking. So now the road will become double lane and from what I understand, cyclist will not be allowed to use it at all in the future.

 

Not sure if I have the intention of this thread correct though. (We will see if I get flamed for my comment).

[madbradd]

Quinton, "adding" a cycling lane or even a wide shoulder is not easy at all, nomatter where you are in the project. To just add a lane means bush clearing which mean environmental study. This takes about 2 years to do. Then there is new earthworks to accommodate the lane. The earthworks needs to support the heaviest load on the road, because trucks will drive in the cycling lane - let's not argue whether they should or shouldn't, they will and we all know it. Then there's the additional surfacing costs.

 

Now remember that a municipality is a business. The business needs to have the project approved, which involves a cost study and various trade off options. Should someone have come forward with a "let's add a cycling lane" option it would have been looked at, quantified and a decision would have been made (not saying this did or didn't happen). But if you were in that position, making that decision, would you have said "yes let's delay the project, put in the environmental study which shows we will be widening the road and taking out x sqkm of vegetation and spending RyMillion additional budget So that the (insert number I'd guess approximately 50) cyclists who use the road for mountain biking don't need to a) wear their types down by riding on the tar for a bit, or B) ride next to the road where it's a bit bumpier?

 

Wow that was a long question. Let's hope autocorrect doesn't embarrass me!

[quintonb]

I fully understand that and respect it.

However in the case of the Inanda road upgrade it would have been easy and the cycle safe committee have been part of the process from the beginning.

All I am saying is in order to alleviate future traffic congestion issues, environmental issues with more vehicles on the road, etc. can some consideration be given to a cycle option.

I am not talking about us "sports" cyclist, I am talking about people who use bicycles to commute to an from work.

Those that only have a bicycle or feet as means of transport.

After all it is "our" money government and/or councils are spending.

Why not look forward and help solve an issue before it gets out of control and cost millions to resolve.

 

I fully get that there is more to the story than what us uninformed folk know, but there must be a way to consider alternatives and not just brush them off as stupid or bad ideas.

 

Thats just my 2 cents worth.

 

Seems like Autocorrect had your back this time...

[Vetseun]

Since when were cyclists ever considered.

[mazambaan]

@madbradd; technically you are correct but I think quinton is just talking a dedicated pavement. He, he, I'm waiting to see which one of the MTB races has to have an EIA to take out x sqkm of vegetation. Don't larf; it could happen.

 

quiton - try Carlos Esteves (good solid citizen; um, engineer though) at eThekwini Municipality; he's Mr Traffic I think. If he says no, I suspect it will be no.

[madbradd]

I'll admit that was a little worst case scenario. But I've still got to ask which mountain biker in plett knysna area wants to ride on a pavement when a few kms away is harkerville! (The red route is what gave me the mtBug)

 

I'm just asking the question because sometimes people moan about things for the sake of moaning, rather than looking at a holistic approach to the problem.

 

But on va ovva hand Darrin: I agree cyclists don't get thought of when these types of decisions are made, this just happens to be a bad example to moan about (IMO)

[mountainbikingsouthafrica]

I'll admit that was a little worst case scenario. But I've still got to ask which mountain biker in plett knysna area wants to ride on a pavement when a few kms away is harkerville! (The red route is what gave me the mtBug)

 

I'm just asking the question because sometimes people moan about things for the sake of moaning, rather than looking at a holistic approach to the problem.

 

But on va ovva hand Darrin: I agree cyclists don't get thought of when these types of decisions are made, this just happens to be a bad example to moan about (IMO)

How do you get to Harkerville? by car???

[mountainbikingsouthafrica]

Ok, you need to be more specific here.

 

1. Are the new roads not allowing for a safe shoulder for cyclists Since when is a shoulder safe for cyclists? We need a separated mountain bike track near the fence of the road reserve

2. Are you objecting to graded dirt roads being upgraded to tar and thereby leaving you without a graded dirt road to cycle on. No not at all.

3. What exactly is the problem with you not being consulted as this is seems to be a link road between two destinations and the N2? These two dirt roads form a corridor from Plett through to the Prince Albert Pass. Some good riding to be done here

[madbradd]

How do you get to Harkerville? by car???

 

Fo Sho! Rather be safer driving there than riding on the N2, and rather spend time in the Forrest than on/next to the road.

 

Maybe just a Big Smoke viewpoint.... I dunno.

[Big H*]

This is about munny. Their own munny or interests. They sell holidays.

 

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