On Tuesday, September 11, 2018 at 11:15:55 AM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 9/10/2018 11:12 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
Went for a ride the other day and passed through Cambridge Ontario on the way to another city. We went to stop at a favourite restaurant in Cambridge and discovered that this city has a weird way of doing the areas near some of the roundabouts. The weird thing is a concrete road divider that runs from roundabout to roundabout. In the case of the restaurant we wanted to go to, the distance from the road we were on to the restaurant after turning right onto the road it's on was @110 meters. They have put a roundabout in instead of the stoplights that used to be there plus they've added this concrete barrier to the road the restaurant is on. This means that instead of driving/cycling @110 meters to get to the restaurant you have to drive all the way to the next roundabout, go through that roundabout and then drive back up to the entrance to the restaurant. That is a distance of just about 1.5 KILOMETERS.

The road above the first roundabout (if you turn left instead of right) continues to another roundabout and this road to that roundabout is also divided by a concrete barrier. This again forces people to drive/cycle quite a bit further (+1 kilometer) to get to a driveway to another plaza.

So much for conserving energy or getting more people to use bicycles instead of cars.

I really do wonder what the road planners were thinking when they approved those concrete road barriers.

It does sound weird! I tried looking around the Google Maps views of
Cambridge ON. The map view shows quite a few roundabouts, but the
satellite views were shot before most roundabouts were built, so details
aren't visible.

Most roundabouts have some provision for pedestrians (although I agree
with a pedestrian advocate I know, who claims roundabouts are less safe
for peds). Can you simply pull off and walk across the roundabout?

You'd then face 110 meters of sidewalk, I suppose. I generally caution
against sidewalk riding, but it's not an absolute condemnation.
Depending on the legal climate, I suppose you could walk the bike that
distance, or ride very slowly. Alternately, you could continue on the
road until you were across from the restaurant and "jaywalk."
Jurisdictions vary, but anywhere I've been, none of those would likely
result in a ticket.

--
- Frank Krygowski

Yes, there are areas near the roundabouts where supposedly pedestrians can cross and there are even markings painted on the road to show where pedestrians are supposed to cross. Unfortunately those crossings are precisely where motor traffic is picking up speed when leaving the roundabout. Those roundabouts have mounds with shrubs and other crap on them in the middle and thus you can't see very far into the roundabout which are so small that an 18-wheeler needs two lanes in order to negotiate them. Once in a while an 18-wheeler gets stuck in one and man then the traffic really backs up.

Trying to cross any of the bigger streets with the roundabouts during rush hour is playing Traffic Russian Roulette. One time when only the one roundabout was there (the other end still had traffic lights) I tried crossing on foot during rush hour. It took one-half hour for a big enough break in traffic to be able to dash across that road. Now that the traffic lights are gone you don't get a break in traffic flow that you used to.

I guess it's just more proof that the roads there are being designed/built/modified for the automobile and not for bicyclists or pedestrians.

Cheers