Loved Dutch Bikeway Design Manual Now Updated!
Word of mouth is a way of education that continues to be powerful in the midst of societal and technological change. In the impassioned subcultures I frequent, activities growing fast because of word of mouth include bicycling, urban farming, and organic farming. For those subcultures, word of mouth seems more powerful than anything else. The word comes from someone doing rather than telling, and that is largely the force of change.
However, word of mouth these days involves sharing documents, news, best practices, and great guidelines online. On that topic, after 10 years without an update, word is that a new version of one of the top bicycle infrastructure resources in the world is now out.
The widely loved Dutch bikeway design manual — CROW’s Design Manual For Bicycle Traffic — is better equipped than ever to inspire the Dutch as well as bicycle advocates in the US and elsewhere to design great bicycle facilities.
Streetsblog reports, “Word of mouth has made the main guide to Dutch bikeway engineering a critical darling, at least among the nation’s hipper street designers. And after a 10-year hiatus, its latest edition dropped in January.” The design manual costs €129, but I imagine it is worth the price for cities, counties, states, and nations that want to be bicycle transportation leaders. Here’s more from Streetsblog:
“The CROW manual’s new edition integrates a decade of updates to the Netherlands’ best practices in bikeways, including new suggestions for bike-friendly roundabouts and top-quality off-street paths. It runs 300 pages and is available to order online for €129 plus tax, or $147. (It may help to use a Chrome browser to translate the order page; you can also email CROW with English-language questions at verkoop@crow.nl.)
“Many concepts in the manual aren’t legal or directly applicable on U.S. streets, of course. (For manuals that offer various levels of detail for the U.S. context, see these guides from NACTO, the Massachussetts Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.) But Dutch know-how about lane widths, curb heights, turning radii and other details are still useful to U.S. street engineers working to make their projects as bike-friendly as possible.”
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Top photos by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica
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