This weekend I took a ride on the recently completed new multi-use path (MUP) paralleling the Alaska Highway from the north end of the airport to Range Road. It was built as part of Yukon Government's widening/twinning of the Alaska Highway through this area.
It is a nicely paved section of trail that partially extends the MUP 800 m further northward from the airport trail. It ends abruptly partially along Range Road and is not connected to anything at this time. YG stated that City of Whitehorse will complete the trail northward to 2-Mile Hill at some point in the future (City has yet to confirm when this might occur).
Since we will hopefully starting to build a lot more protected spaces for cyclists in the coming years, I'm going to focus on "lessons learned" from YG's first attempt at this type of infrastructure:
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| Start of the new path. Nice smooth asphalt, good gentle grade. LESSONS LEARNED: no drainage on the up-slope side, especially runoff
from the highway will result in ice accumulating on the path, leading
down to the intersection in the foreground. PS - this gate is terrible! | | | |
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| T-junction at Range Road. Main path loops off to the right unnecessarily. Note already the pedestrian in distance has left the path to walk directly via the road! I suspect this is what many will do. LESSON LEARNED: Keep bike paths straight, convenient and designed for 30km/hr. They need to be designed like a road with no unnecessary turns, bends or hills. |
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| Path looping around Range Road. This route causes the path to cross three driveways/entrances that could have been avoided if the path crossed Range Road at the signalized intersection with Alaska Highway. LESSON LEARNED: Plan cycle routes to minimize interruptions and crossing with motor vehicle traffic. |
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| Pedestrian crossing of Range Road at Alaska Highway (signal lights remains to be installed). This is where the MUP should have crossed Range Road as a Protected Intersection. Nice cut-through of the "pork chop", but the pork-chop is very problematic for road-cyclists. The create a difficult and dangerous situation for cyclists and should not be used. LESSON LEARNED: Do no use pork chops as they create unnecessary difficulty and hazard for cyclists and inconveniences for pedestrians. A refuge island between the lanes would be the better, safer solution. |
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| Alaska Highway Crossing to unpaved trail on west side of highway, leading to Valleyview. Note the trail sloping down to crossing. LESSONS LEARNED: We need to 1) avoid unnecessary climbs on bike paths; and 2) if there is a decent, drop the trail well in advance of the roadway crossing so cyclists are not carrying excess speed coming into the intersection. |
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| Looking towards the mid-block crossing where the trail crosses Range Road. Note the additional driveway crossing here at Toyota. |
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| Looking back south towards the airport. Note, contrary to YG staffs' claim, there is ample space between Range Road (on the left) and the Alaska Highway (on the right) to accommodate the trail directly to the intersection in the distance. LESSON LEARNED: Cycle paths should be as straight and direct as possible and do not require much space. |
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| Again the path looking southward. Some sections are well elevated with ditching on both sides, however other locations like this one do not have a ditch between the road and the path. At this location, melting snow runoff will flow from the road onto the path, creating ice on the path. LESSON LEARNED: provide good drainage and ditching for bike paths, same as done for roadways. |
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| And here is the abrupt north end of the path. A path to nowhere. LESSON LEARNED: To build a cycle network, it needs to connect. With $6 million spent on this project, it is shame that path couldn't have gone another 500m north to connect with the multi-use path at 2-Mile Hill. |
Summary:
Well, it is great to see another piece of the Alaska CycleHighway being built. Certainly the lack of a paved path between airport trail and Range Road was a missing piece. However, for spending $6 million of public funds to build additional highway lanes that are not needed, the cycling component is disappointing.
Overall verdict: Should have done better.
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6 comments:
forest, you said this was YTG's first attempt at a bike path. then what is that thing paralleling the alaska highway past the RV park and the idaho (?) rail siding. it is over a km long and, like this path, ends abuptly. at least that one doesn't seem to have possible icing problems and driveway crossings except for the RV park.
What's a porkchop?
Nice review and commentary...
Excellent review and commentary, Forest.
That path at Utah yard (you were close with "Idaho") is not for cyclists. I not sure exactly what is is for, I think it is for ATVs? It is not flat nor paved, so you know it is not for cyclists.
Thane, a "porkchop" is that odd triangular area created by a merge/diverge lane. A refuge island is between the two lanes. The advantage of the latter is a pedestrian (or cyclists) only has to look one direction when crossing the lanes. First look left crossing to the island and then look right crossing the second set of lanes. This is particularly important for children who sometimes have trouble cognitively keeping track of traffic coming from two direction plus their relative speeds.
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