Rush hour down on the trail
By: Drivers.com staff
Date: 2015-06-17
If you live in Silver Springs, Maryland (about 8 miles north of the White House), and work in downtown Washington, you might consider the biking trail alternative to commuting. Instead of battling highway traffic, how about some 12 miles of park trails, canal banks, and a nice spin along the pleasant banks of the Potomac, right into Georgetown. (Photos).
And you'd get fit too. It's a lovely thought, and more and more people are doing it. So much so that the demand for trails is expanding rapidly all across North America.
However, life is not all sweet along these trails. Some, such as the Capital Crescent Trail described above, are beginning to get a rush-hour effect. The CCT is now getting 400 to 500 users an hour morning rush hours and weekend afternoons.
One of the biggest problems on trails is mixed use, and the different speeds of pedestrians, skaters, horse riders, and others. It's a problem highway drivers are familiar with - it's not the actual speed, but the difference in speeds.
As one trail user pointed out, a skateboarder passing at 10 mph within inches of an elderly pedestrian or a small child who might turn suddenly is a real problem. Dan Cross, project manager of Trailnet, a nonprofit organization based in St. Louis, MO, puts it this way:
"When you have a diverse group of users all using the same facility at the same time, it's almost like having a tennis game going on in the middle of a baseball game. The walkers don't like the bike riders because they go too fast, inline skaters get upset with pedestrians for walking two abreast, and the bike riders complain because inline skaters use too much of the trail when swinging their arms back and forth with each glide."
Basically the problems are the same as problems of mixing trucks, cars and other vehicles on highways. Planners, designers and rule enforcers can play their role but in the end, users have to learn to get along and know what's expected of them.
In other words, it's the larger world in microcosm.
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