cycle streets for Oxford?
In Britain the term "cycle street" is not well known and there seem to be few implementations. I am talking about what the Dutch call a fietsstraat, the French a vélorue and the Germans a Fahrradstraße; a "bicycle boulevarde" in the United States.
The Ranty Highwayman has a good explanation (focusing on Dutch implementations) and here is a translation from Guide des Aménagements Cyclables:
A cycle street is a street that accommodates transit bicycle traffic and only local motorized traffic. In some countries, a cycle street is defined by regulations and may, for example, prohibit overtaking (Belgium), or authorize several people to ride abreast (Germany). In the Netherlands, it has no regulatory basis, but is the subject of specific recommendations:
- cycles must be able to take over the carriageway: this is the case regardless of the volume of cycles as soon as motorized traffic is less than 500 vehicles per day. Ideally, cycle traffic is at least twice as high as motorized traffic, with a limit for the latter set at 2,000 vehicles per day.
- the cycle street has priority at intersections over cross streets.
- the roadway has the same surface as cycle paths (red asphalt in the Netherlands).
So, a cycle street is a low traffic, low speed street with a lot of cycling on it, optimised for cycling priority, comfort, speed, wayfinding, etc. It needs to be designed to either prohibit (Germany and Belgium) or deter motor vehicles from overtaking people cycling.
Oxford has what seems like an attempt at a cycle street in the eastern half of Jack Straws Lane. Because of the gradient, this needs lower traffic volumes to work - a modal filter would do the trick.
Here is a video about a cycle street in Vienna
