Do Cork City's narrow roads mean that there is not enough room to fit an expansive cycling infrastructure network in the city?

Thread

TL;DR

If you want cars in your city, it might be difficult. If you don't want cars, there is plenty of room.

1/19

2/19

To answer this question, I got the road layout of the whole of Cork City from OSi Prime 2 and calculated the average width of roads sections.

(width = average distance to the centreline road x 2)

3/19

I also then need to make some assumptions:

Let’s say the roads in the city are about 3 m wide, and a segregated cycle lane is about 1.75 m wide.

(these widths are based on some of the interim proposals put forward recently by CCC)

https://consult.corkcity.ie/en/consultation/interim-cycle-infrastructure-phase-1-updated

4/19

Say we wanted to install a cycle lane along every road in Cork City, how many roads are wide enough to accommodate one cycle lane and two lanes of traffic?

57%

What about two cycle lanes and two lanes of traffic?

31%

5/19

What about if we reduced the number of traffic lanes?

How many roads are wide enough for one cycle lane and one lane of traffic?

98%

How about two cycle lanes and one traffic lane?

82%

6/19

And because why not – how many of the roads could accommodate one or two cycle lanes, if we didn’t have to consider a lane for traffic?

100%

If a road is wide enough for a car, its wide enough for a bike.

7/19

So, when people say the roads are “too narrow for cycling infrastructure”, what they are really saying is that roads are too narrow for cycling infrastructure AND cars.

The ‘and cars’ bit often goes unsaid.

8/19

My very simple analysis shows that, physically, the roads are wide enough to accommodate cycling infrastructure.

They just need to be adapted to do so.

Of course, this is not a simple task, but the roads have been adapted before…

9/19

Look at the layout of the centre of Cork in 1842 compared to today.

It is almost identical.

(explore more at http://map.geohive.ie/mapviewer.html )

10/19

The first car in Ireland is thought to have been imported to Dublin in 1896.

This means that the roads of Cork City have, over time, been adapted to better suit the use of motor vehicles.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/motors/gearing-up-a-history-of-irish-motoring-1.1096586

11/19

The same approach can apply again – the roads can be adapted to our transport mode(s) of choice.

So, you can choose to have an approach to transport that greatly encourages car use if that’s what you want.

Or, you can prioritise alternatives.

12/19

Amsterdam, NL, is often cited as a leading example of cycling infrastructure.

It is a historic port city, like Cork.

It has narrow streets, like Cork.

It had lots of cars. Cork has a lot of cars. https://twitter.com/fietsprofessor/status/1271432301113675776

13/19

The amount of people choosing to cycle, walk, and use public transport needs to greatly increase to reduce our impact on the environment and reduce the effects of climate change.

To enable this, bold decisions have to made.

14/19

York, UK, is a historic city, with a lot of narrow streets (like Cork).

The Council has taken the “unashamedly ambitious” decision to stop all non-essential private car journeys inside York’s city walls by 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/31/york-to-ban-private-cars-from-city-centre-within-three-years

15/19

Bristol, UK, a historic port city (like Cork) is banning diesel cars from the city centre to improve air quality. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-50292596

16/19

Covid-19 has brought some of these issues to the fore, but long-term, Cork needs to promote cycling (as well as walking and public transport use) if it wishes to be a liveable, prosperous, and environmentally sustainable city. https://twitter.com/fietsprofessor/status/1245317779672236035

17/19

Conclusion:

My (simple) analysis shows that 31% of roads in Cork City are physically wide enough for two cycle lanes and two lanes of traffic.

So, you could install cycling infrastructure (relatively) easily on almost a third of Cork's roads.

18/19

In my opinion, there is also room for an expansive, well connected, and safe cycle network in Cork City.

It will probably require the current road network to be adapted.

This will not be a simple task.

However, the impacts of climate change mean it will have to happen.

19/19

(Unfortunately, I can’t share an interactive map of the road widths for this one due to license restrictions on the data.

But, if anyone wants a look at their local area, just let me know and I’ll do a screenshot)