I ran across this document commissioned by Portland City based upon learnings from other cities around the World when it comes to urban bicycle infrastructure. Here’s a quick summary just in case TFL are listening:

Introduction

• A cycle track is an exclusive bicycle facility that combines the user experience of a separated path with the on-street infrastructure of a conventional bike lane.
• Advantages:
  • Cycle tracks provide increased comfort for bicyclists and greater clarity about expected behavior on the part of both cyclists and motorists.
  • Properly designed cycle tracks eliminate conflicts between bicycles and parking cars by placing the cycle track on the inside of the parking lane. 
  • Danish research has shown that cycle tracks can increase bicycle ridership 18 to 20 percent.
  • The same study also found that fewer cyclists were hit or run over from behind, were hit when turning left, or ran into a parked car.
• Disadvantages:
  • As bicyclists are not traveling directly alongside automobiles, motorists may not be aware of their presence, leading to increased vulnerability at intersections.
  • Regular street sweeping trucks cannot maintain the cycle track; however, smaller street sweepers can accommodate the narrower roadway.
  • Conflicts with pedestrians and boarding or deboarding bus passengers can occur.
• Because of the difficulty and danger of allowing other traffic to cross the cycle track, they are not recommended on streets where there are many major and closely spaced intersections.
• Cycle tracks work well on streets with signalized intersections and minor side roads, as the crossing roads can be given speed-reducing regulations.

Separation

• One-way cycle tracks are provided on each side of the street. They are physically separated from both motor vehicles and pedestrians.
• Cycle tracks are separated from travel lanes and pedestrians by a physical barrier, such as on-street parking or a curb, or are grade-separated.
• Visual and physical cues should be present that show where bicyclists and pedestrians should travel through grade separation, pavement colouration or surfacing.
• Track types:
  • Parking Placement: Where on-street parking exists, the cycle track should be placed between the parking and the sidewalk. Drainage inlets should be provided adjacent to the sidewalk curb to facilitate run-off.
  • Channelization: At street-level, a curb creates the separated space, as well as preventing passengers from opening doors into the cycle track and discouraging pedestrians from walking on the facility.
  • Mountable Curb: Grade-separated from the roadway, the cycle track should be two or three inches above street-level, and the sidewalk should be an additional two to three inches above that. Where cyclists may enter or leave the cycle track, or where motorists cross at a driveway, the curb should be mountable with a small ramp, allowing cyclist turning movements.
• In many existing cycle track applications, on-street parking has been removed to accommodate the track adjacent to the travel lanes without roadway widening.

Track width

• Cycle tracks should have a minimum width of six and a half feet clear to provide safe passing for bicyclists.
• At constrained intersections, the cycle track can be narrowed to five feet.
• In the Netherlands, cycle tracks are typically seven feet wide, although eight feet is desirable for new construction.
• The buffer between the cycle track and the vehicle or parking lane provides safety and comfort for bicyclists in the cycle track. A buffer is not required of a cycle track wider than seven feet, but is recommended where possible.
• In higher demand situations, each lane can be as wide as ten feet.

Intersections

• A cycle track retains priority at low-volume intersections and driveways.
• The cycle track should not change grade; rather, motorists are required to mount the curb to cross, thereby slowing down and recognizing a change.
• Crossing motorists and bicyclists must be made aware of the cycle track and reminded to yield to bicyclists in it.
• If the speed of the main street is 45 mph or less, the cycle track should turn inwards prior to crossing a side street. This is to improve visibility of cyclists to motorists in the main road turning right.
• If the speed is greater, the cycle track should bend away from the main road at intersections, so that vehicles leaving the main road can stack up on the cross street, between the cycle track and the main road.
• To increase drivers’ awareness of bicyclists in the cycle track, the stop line is usually moved back about 16 feet, while allowing cyclists to wait as far up on the intersection as possible.
• The bike lane should be colored starting 16 feet prior to the intersection, and in certain locations, the bike lane markings can be extended through the intersection. If coloured pavement markings indicate the crossing, the width should be eight feet.
• The Copenhagen Left is a way of enabling a safe left-turn movement (right in the UK), bicyclists should not be allowed to make left-turn movements from the cycle track. Instead, bicyclists approaching an intersection can make a right into the intersecting street from the cycle track, to position themselves in front of cars. Bicyclists can go straight across the road they were on during next signal phase.

Two-way cycle tracks 

• Two-way cycle tracks require a higher level of control at intersections, to allow for a variety of turning movements. These movements should be guided by a separated signal for bicycles and for motor vehicles.
• A two-way cycle track is desirable when more destinations are on one side of a street (therefore preventing additional crossings), if the facility connects to a path or other bicycle facility on one side of the street, or if there is not enough room for a cycle track on both sides of the road.
• To allow cyclists to comfortably pass each other, the cycle track should be a minimum of 12-feet wide.

My take away from this excellent condensing of knowledge is that there are clear and straight forward guidelines from abroad on how to build high quality cycle tracks that people will use. The difficult thing is not the tracks themselves but the intersections between them.

It is a long known issue in the UK that cycle lanes and tracks mysteriously vanish as soon as an intersection occurs. As someone recently said on Twitter, “it’s not hat hair or image that puts people off cycling, it’s the roundabouts”, so maybe we need to forget about cycle lanes and tracks and concentrate on building safe segregated intersections that can be linked up with tracks later?