Infrastructure hokey-cokey
<p>As COVID-19 restrictions have been easing, local authorities in many parts of the world have been considering the future of their temporary ‘pop-up’ measures to enable walking and cycling. Examples of these measures include widened footways, protected cycle lanes and modal filters which restrict access to motor vehicles but allow walkers, wheelers and cyclists through.</p>
<p><img alt="Image shows Forrest Rd in Edinburgh, a narrow one-way street near to the city centre. There are shops & cafes on both sides and the left hand part of the carriageway is coloured red and protected by plastic bollard (or wands) to create a segregated cycle lane. There are two cyclists riding in the bike lane, and several cars driving in the main carriageway. The street is busy with parked vehicles, buses, cars, pedestrians and cyclists." src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*gDSM08WLLqQImObOZx8edg.jpeg" style="height:934px; width:700px" /></p>
<p>Forrest Road protected cycle lane in Edinburgh, August 2021 (photo credit: Ewen Maclean)</p>
<p>The process for changing road layouts in the UK is cumbersome and time consuming — and the legal complexities of TRO processes is now creating a perverse situation which I describe as ‘infrastructure hokey-cokey’. A bike lane goes in, is taken out and then goes back in again. It would be unthinkable for any other mode of transport — imagine doing that for a railway?!</p>
<p><a href="https://drcarolinebrown.medium.com/infrastructure-hokey-cokey-8cc7a99e0b8e"><strong>Click Here</strong></a></p>