{"id":3870,"date":"2010-03-18T13:00:59","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingatlantic.ca\/?p=3870"},"modified":"2013-01-21T04:56:45","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T08:56:45","slug":"hug-it-but-dont-ride-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/03\/18\/hug-it-but-dont-ride-it\/","title":{"rendered":"HUG it, but don’t ride it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_9382\"<\/p>\n

\"spokespeople_feature-600\"Brought to you in collaboration with the Ecology Action Centre<\/a><\/em> <\/em>and <\/em>Halifax Cycling Coalition<\/a><\/em>, SpokesPeople covers all things cycle-related. From the principles to the potholes, we’re here to examine the realities facing the two-wheeled traveler<\/em>.<\/p>\n

HALIFAX – <\/strong>The suspiciously placid early onset of spring has sent Haligonians outdoors in droves, as residents ditch the snow shovels of Marches past in favour of bicycles and rollerblades. In the city\u2019s South End, this means an opportunity to test out the first leg of the long-awaited Halifax Urban Greenway<\/a> (HUG), a multi-modal path for active transportation types of all stripes<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The HUG is a work-in-progress, with long-term plans calling for the greenway to extend north to the Armdale Rotary, and south to Point Pleasant Park. The opening of this first trail section \u2014 running alongside Beaufort Avenue from Marlborough Woods north to South Street \u2014 is nonetheless cause for celebration, as it comes after nearly a decade of campaigning and planning.<\/p>\n

But just as surely as winter will rear its head again before finally calling it quits for this season, cyclists\u2019 celebrations along the HUG are more likely to be muted, or at least \u201cstop-start\u201d in nature. In another victory for liability over practicality, the recent installation of signage on the HUG shocked cyclists with a sweeping assertion: \u201cCyclists are required to dismount at all intersections.\u201d If you don\u2019t get the point, the off-putting image of a cyclist inside a red circle with a strike-through should drive it home.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cCyclists dismount<\/a>\u201d signs are not new, and have been the bane of two-wheelers everywhere since they were conceived by lawyers a day or two after the invention of the wheel. \u201cCyclists dismount\u201d is broadly interpreted as \u201cThis infrastructure was built by people who don\u2019t cycle!\u201d\u00a0 After all, it is roughly equivalent to asking motorists to get out of their car to pay a toll \u2014 at every intersection.<\/p>\n

The crux of the problem is the establishment of an expectation that nobody in their right mind will observe. It is somewhat akin to the imposition of an obscenely low speed limit on a straight, hazard-free stretch of road: if no one can see a good reason for it, then everyone will ignore it. Aside from the legal designation of these street crossings as \u201ccrosswalks,\u201d nobody will see the logic behind the dismount demand, as all of these crossings are found at intersections where traffic approaching Beaufort must stop for stop signs anyway. \u201cTraffic\u201d is a bit misleading here, as the cross streets in question are all quiet, low-speed residential streets.<\/p>\n

This problem may seem somewhat trivial in the near term \u2013 the first leg of the HUG crosses only a few streets \u2013 but can anyone imagine what it will be like to mount and dismount repeatedly all the way from Armdale to Point Pleasant and back?<\/p>\n

When this contributor took to the HUG for a test run, he tried \u2013 and failed, miserably \u2013 to bring himself to observe the dismount order. Frankly, it just felt downright foolish to dismount and mount repeatedly as drivers whizzed by. But blowing through these intersections at full speed is not an option, either, as the still-mounted cyclist is relegated to the bottom of the right-of-way food chain, having essentially bowed out of all rights by snubbing the law. So forget about gearing up, as any safe cyclist\u2019s speed will be reduced to a pittance at each of these crossings.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s a cyclist to do? Sadly, the best solution for the moment is to eschew the HUG and use Beaufort instead.\u00a0 As a wide collector route with relatively low traffic, it\u2019s a safer bet for through cyclists who have any hope of beating pedestrians to their destination. It\u2019s a crying shame, really, as the uninterrupted stretches of the HUG are surprisingly glorious cruises on sunny days, the car-free path giving recreational cyclists a feeling of freedom, even if the cars are whizzing by just metres away.<\/p>\n

Other communities have successfully addressed this problem, and Halifax can, too. (Indeed, Vancouverites and Montrealers would laugh in our faces if they saw how far behind we are.) Swapping the dismount signs on the HUG for yellow diamond \u201cCyclists crossing\u201d signs on the approaching side streets would go a long way to reordering the right-of-way hierarchy. The installation of similar signage on Beaufort itself would aid turning motorists in avoiding HUG users.<\/p>\n

Until any change is initiated, what could have been Halifax\u2019s active transportation showpiece will be relegated to the category of \u201cGood intentions, bad execution,\u201d where it can join the likes of the Macdonald Bridge bikeway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A hard-working platoon of Haligonians came together to make this first leg of the HUG a reality, and they should be rightly congratulated for it. As they continue to press for construction of future legs, it may be up to a new gang of volunteers to fight for the proper accommodation of bicycles on the greenway. So consider this a a call to action: get off your asses \u2013 not your bikes \u2013 and tell HRM to take cycling seriously, because this is one HUG that we can\u2019t afford to waste.<\/p>\n

photo by Mark Lasanowski<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brought to you in collaboration with the Ecology Action Centre and Halifax Cycling Coalition, SpokesPeople covers all things cycle-related. From the principles to the potholes, we’re here to examine the realities facing the two-wheeled traveler. HALIFAX – The suspiciously placid early onset of spring has sent Haligonians outdoors in droves, as residents ditch the snowContinue reading “HUG it, but don’t ride it”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8055,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5857,5866,5874],"tags":[2153,2154,2151,2150,339,580,927,340,2152,351,531,1678,384,2149,2148,348,385],"class_list":["post-3870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bikes","category-green-space","category-walking","tag-active-transportation-showpiece","tag-active-transportation-types","tag-car-free-path-giving-recreational-cyclists","tag-collector","tag-cycling","tag-cyclist","tag-ecology-action-centre","tag-environment","tag-food-chain","tag-halifax","tag-halifax-cycling-coalition","tag-mark-lasanowski","tag-pedestrians","tag-safe-cyclist","tag-still-mounted-cyclist","tag-transportation","tag-urban-green"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHUG it, but don't ride it - Spacing Atlantic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2010\/03\/18\/hug-it-but-dont-ride-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HUG it, but don't ride it - Spacing Atlantic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Brought to you in collaboration with the Ecology Action Centre and Halifax Cycling Coalition, SpokesPeople covers all things cycle-related. 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