Good Cycling Facility of the Week: 10th November 2016

This week's Good Facility is an example of a cycleway (and footway) crossing a side road with priority in the Dutch city of Utrecht.

There are several elements that make this an excellent example of design. Both the footway and the cycleway are uninterrupted, without any breaks or changes of texture or marking. This makes it clear to drivers that they are traversing the cycleway without priority. 

Both the cycleway and the footway continue across the side road at a raised level, meaning drivers have to traverse a sharp ramp on either side - again, this reinforces who has priority, as well as slowing drivers substantially. 

Finally, the side road itself is part of a network of access roads which have had through traffic designed out. This means that there will be relatively few drivers turning in and out of this side road, and therefore fewer opportunities for conflict.

(It is also possible to see, from Google Streetview, that the width of the road here has been reduced substantially, with that space reallocated to the footway and the cycleway seen in this photograph).