Tour of the "pedestrian friendly" diverging diamond

Charles Marohn of Strong Towns narrates a "response" to an engineer's tour of the pedestrian features of a Diverging Diamond Interchange.

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[WOkitsu]

Why are you comparing a freeway interchange in the outskirts of Springfield, Missouri to bikeways in central Amsterdam or streets in urban UK? A fairer comparison would be with an interchange under a similar setting in Europe, the US, or elsewhere.

[strongtowns]

In Europe they general don't confuse urban and rural the way we do here in the US. In other words, I'm not aware of a similar setting in Europe. That having been said, I'm not sure this could really be called the "outskirts". I'm sure it has full urban utilities (sewer and water) as well as -- at least according to the original video -- some expectation of pedestrian traffic.

[Sevenfold120]

In Europe rural pedestrian and Bike ways are not connected to the road. So the sidewalk, which is much wider than an American Sidewalk will often go under the road or far away from the road itself. Hard to explain really. But many pathways go under roads... there are not many streetlights where I live.

[strongtowns]

Yeah, that makes complete sense. Where cars are expected to be traveling at high speeds (roads), cycling lanes should be provided, but separated. Where cars should be traveling at neighborhood speeds (streets), then we can safely mix cyclists right into the (slow) traffic stream.

[puffpuffin1]

Baloney. There are rural and urban areas in Europe just like the US and they are treated differently. In fact, the first diverging diamond was built in rural France. It certainly looks like the outskirts of the city to me unless there is a new meaning for the word. BTW, red brick is a cheap way to make concrete look better. Yeah, it would be nice if everything was landscaped, but money and maintenance are issues.

[strongtowns]

Rural and urban areas ARE treated differently in Europe. That's the point....they are not here in the U.S. In the US, street and road standards are generally ubiquitous and rural/urban differences are not discernible. I don't doubt the DDI is used in rural France, but I'm fairly certain it will not be designed for pedestrians. Additionally, where there are pedestrians, they don't build their streets with highway standards.

[strongtowns]

Use it. Just don't pretend it is pedestrian-friendly and cycling-friendly.

[strongtowns]

I never say is HAS to be bike and ped friendly. The original video went to great lengths to show that it WAS bike and ped friendly. That's an absurd assertion.

[Mudimush]

Under the law, the cyclist is supposed to be using the vehicle lanes, not the pedestrian lanes. A bicycle is a vehicle.

I have seen more accidents because bicycles were on the sidewalk than from any other cause in a bicycle accident. Riding on the sidewalk is wrong.

[BeeryUSA]

At least on the road the cyclist would be visible.

[BeeryUSA]

If they pop out of that trench as the pedestrian light turns green while a motorist is late through the light, the cyclist will be creamed. It's not as if motorists never run red lights.

[Athanase48067]

and what about when snow fills up the death star trench? Hows a bike going to trudge through slush, rain and mud?

[04smallmj]

That footage of cyclists was from Utrecht, not Amsterdam :P

[Mudimush]

The Versailles DDI is urban, and has a sidewalk down one side of the bridge. There are also crosswalks.

[Mudimush]

Of the 3 DDIs in France, two are in urban settings. The third (Seclin) is in an area surrounded by fields. It also has three bridges, but that is due to previous lane assignments before it became a DDI.

[Mudimush]

Political correctness is really a religion, since it is based on Baha'i Faith doctrines.

[Mudimush]

But since cyclists must obey the traffic lights, this is not an issue.

[augustlilly]

It's so UGLY too!