Big Ride and the North End Roundabout

I've been on a really undesireable work schedule for the past three or four weeks. Although it's opened up a bit more space to do more riding more often, things haven't exactly worked out that way. In any case, I was able to grind out enough time last week to throw down about 150 km all around Halifax, Bedford, Dartmouth and beyond. 

One of those rides was a pretty large loop through Lawrencetown, to Porters Lake and back by Dartmouth via Main St. Clocking in at 70km, it's one of my larger routes that takes me from peninsular, Metro Halifax to suburban and rural HRM. If you're used to longer rides, I totally recommend this one. It's also a great starter or warm-up route if you're looking to transition from 50-60 km rides to about 75-100 km ones. 

In other news, it looks like the construction at the North Park and Cunard streets is coming along quite well. For anyone not in the know: this is the future site of downtown Halifax's first roundabout. 

Now don't get all crazy! 

This little guy is not going to look like the Quinpool Rotary/Roundabout. It's going to be much smaller, with only one lane of travel for cars, and four entry/exit points. In contrast, the Quinpool Rotary/Roundabout is a three-lane monstrosity with five entry/exit points. The North Park and Cunard Roundabout is going to be more compact and --dare I say-- European in design. Having used Euro-Roundabouts both as a cyclist and motorist, I can tell you these changes are going to make these intersections much smoother to get through than the current lighted setup we've been dealing with for the past several decades. 

"What does this mean for cyclists going through?" you might ask. "Aren't roundabouts more dangerous than lighted intersections?" The short answer to that is: Yes. After reading a fair deal about roundabouts from several reports from the Netherlands, Germany and France, there are signs that collision rates between cars and bikes are higher in roundabouts when compared to lighted intersections. A few of these studies go a bit further to see why this happens and have come up with two main suggestions for cyclists that drastically reduce your chances of collision:

1) Position yourself in the centre of the lane! Probably the most important rule of thumb for cyclists in roundabouts. Staying to the right --as you would on most streets-- puts you in a danger zone as this finds you in a blind-spot for most vehicles. Stay directly ahead of cars so they can easily spot you while traveling through a roundabout.

2) Signal your intention to exit. More near-misses were recorded in one study by observers when cyclists failed to indicate they were exiting a roundabout. Although I'm not a big fan of turn signals while cycling, I probably will try to do so when using this Roundabout when it's finished. 

In any case, I'm glad to see this change in the street-scape of the North-End. It should be better for drivers (less congestion, less 90-degree collisions), somewhat better for pedestrians (no waiting for those bloody lights to change, maybe some art-project in the middle of the Roundabout to fancy-up the place, less traffic), and with proper biking habits, better for bikers. 

In other news, I'm hoping to ride out to Peggy's Cove and back sometime in September, and possibly to Windsor and back on another trip as a two-day tour. Will hopefully have a lot of pictures to share from these adventures. Also, I've been hoping to make a few top-three lists of routes, gear and apps for cyclists. Keep your eyes peeled and I hope to see you out on the streets! The cycling season is almost over for those fair-weatherers out there...