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V2C (central cycling lane): an innovative approach for designing streets

Before the 1950's, there were mostly walking, cycling and bus cities. But since then, most of them have become car-cities with streets and places mostly adapted to this use. But this situation is changing. In fact society is currently seeing a growing interest in European cities and regions for promoting the bicycle. Indeed the bicycle is an ideal complement to public transport and it contributes to the development of sustainable cities. To achieve that aim, it is known that communication is not enough; society also has to adapt streets to this traffic. And, there are different phases in this development: - First there is the "cycling city 1.0" with with around 0.1 to 2% of daily trips made by bicycle. In those cities there are some bicycles lanes and bicycles paths. They have been built or painted in different streets but not systematically and not sufficiently; - The "cycling city 2.0" with almost 2 to 15 % of daily cycle users is more interesting. Of course, cycles lanes have been generalized, but as it is impossible to separate all users in all streets, those cities have also developed mixed streets with slow traffic zones, including a lot of 30 kph zones. Those cities are safer and more comfortable for cyclists; - And there are also some innovative cities, such as Copenhagen "the City of Cyclists", and Amsterdam,which already constitute the category of "cycling cities 3.0" with more than 15 % of daily cycle users and which even aim to reach 50 %. In the authors' studies for French cities they have identified a need for new design tools adapted to cyclists for increasing the speed of change. And the V2C ("Voie Centrale Cyclable", which means Central Cycling Lane) has been created to help those cycling cities who want to have more cyclists in their streets. In the French Highway Code, as in other countries, the main rule for cyclists is "to drive on the right of the the right-hand lane" (or left in the UK). Thus cyclists don't disturb car drivers ! This approach seems natural to all road designers. And for the moment bicycle lanes have been developed following this principle. But in some situations this can be very dangerous: when a driver opens the door of a parked car onto the cyclist (it can be a fatal collision), or when a driver wants to overtake a cyclist in a narrow street. In this position, cyclists are also less visible; drivers often claim, after a collision, that they didn't see the cyclist ! The V2C consists of putting a bicycle lane in the center of the street with a narrow sideband (<1,70 m) to prevent cars from overtaking cyclists. And a new road sign has been designed for this project. It indicates to motorized vehicles "No overtaking bikes" and " Keep your speed down". And a new road sign has been designed for this. In this way cyclists are perfectly visible and each vehicle is moving at the same speed. This may seem revolutionary but the authors think that this V2C could be adapted to some streets in cities. To realize the first V2C there are many phases: to choose suitable streets, to design the project and to ask for an authorization from the national Road Safety Department. And at present, this project is being examined in conjunction with the city of Nantes, which aims to implement it in the coming months.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Bibliography;
  • Pagination: 8p
  • Monograph Title: European Transport Conference 2011: Seminars

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01491598
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Sep 3 2013 12:27PM