Closing the freeway, who's smart idea was that?
That was the comment my business partner made to me today, he lives in the hills and whilst not affected by the closure couldn't see the point of it. I'm inclined to agree with him. We strive week in and week out to co-exist on the roads with motorists, but when we (or Bike SA) want a special bike ride, they close off the road, Highway 1 no less, to the vast majority of the travelling public. How to win friends and influence people. How many motorists were inconvenienced yesterday, and what will their ongoing opinion of cyclists be, as a result?
I discussed the Amy's Gran Fondo ride with my g/f over the weekend as I might do that this year (call me a hypocrite) and her reaction was "What if you are an overseas tourist and that day you planned to drive the GOR and can't because it's closed for a bunch of wannabe Cadel's" (subtlety is not her strong suit).
If we want to be taken seriously as legitimate road users, maybe we just need to "suck it up" and ride with the cars.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alasdair McLellan on -
I initially thought that if that lane wer eopen to cars it'd also be open to cyclists until I remembered that cyclists aren't allowed on the freeway. Oops.
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Permalink Reply by Gus K on -
Were the Italians around San Remo complaining that their Poggio or the Cipressa were closed for the Milan-San Remo spring classic (and probably community ride before it) on Saturday? I doubt it.
Closing the Freeway might be painful to some for one or two years but after a while the event can go from annoying to iconic.
I didn't think that C7 News on Saturday night mentioning that the Freeway would be closed in the morning for a community cycling event and showing footage of the Old Freeway in a gridlock of cars at Eagle on the Hill helped.
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Permalink Reply by Tim B on -
Yeah, i guess the cars had to get back onto the freeway at some stage and were presumably trying to get through the cycle traffic above the tunnels just before crafers.
With three lanes going up the freeway, would have thought they could have left at least one open for cars, even if it were at 40kph, still would have made everyones life easier.
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Permalink Reply by Doddsy on -
If people are going to continually complain about garbage. We should at least oblige by not caring and giving them something real to whine about.
Some people don't know what real problems are, but they still complain about stuff all.
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Permalink Reply by Frank on
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+1 Doddsy
Not till one really experiences hardship or real problems does one appreciate just living.
I lived in the West Bank in Israel, I appreciated every morning for not getting the crap bombed out of me!
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Permalink Reply by Patrick O'Kane on -
Put some of the discussion in this thread to my business partner.
Roads closed for Clipsal and pageant etc., not much sympathy. He reckons those two events attract close to 250000 people and put SA on the map. A couple of thousand cyclists who can and do ride those routes every week without closing the roads didn't seem to sway him.
His biggest argument seemed to be that this would only happen in Adelaide, can you see Melb or Syd closing major freeways to cater for a few thousand cyclists.
I think one of the issues is that the pageant, Clipsal, Fringe etc are seen as catering to the wider community. This ride in particular, and possibly the TDU, are seen as catering to a very small section of the community. One that tends to whinge a lot about our lot on the road, but often do very little to promote our own cause. Riding two abreast when it's not sensible running red lights, riding on the footpath, leaning our bikes on the windows of cafes and blocking footpaths. If we aren't going to portray ourselves as being a valuable part of the community, we are going to be perceived as pests on the roads which I'm afraid is how many people see us.
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Permalink Reply by heather on -
The Sydney Harbour Bridge has been closed for supporters of Active Transport, i.e. cyclists and pedestrians. Would have put motorists out more because no easy alternative to this bridge. At least the old highway duplicates the freeway for drivers who cannot wait.
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I am not sure what or how they see cycling events interstate or what events are run but I know the around the bay in a day is welcomed as it brings tourists into those communities and the locals appreciate the attention!
If running was as big here as it is in new York for example roads be closed for that too!
We are lucky to live in the best cycle state in the country if not the world, let's rejoice.
Tell the knockers to gnarl on their croissants and jumbo latte's while the traffic clears!
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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Champion on -
Frank ATB gets close to 20000 riders and the only road closure is the Westgate Bridge early in the am and early in the pm in the opposite direction (not quite sure how that works as I always cross it in the am). Extra ferries are laid on but the public still get equal treatment otherwise all roads are open and while it is accepted there are still problems and complaints. Brilliant day on a bike tho.
I'm with Pat and others I'm not sure closing the Freeway is a good idea as it is the number one route out of Adelaide and while locals may have been caught by the publicity interstate transport movements may not have been. There is an alternative for the cyclists and it worked okay for RLC which had similar if slightly less numbers. Not sure what the value was in closing the other roads I'm sure someone can tell me.
I did not ride in protest - Bring back the C2C a truly magnificent ride and the closest thing we had to a tradition like the ATB.
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Permalink Reply by Doddsy on
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The majority of us are motorists clayton.
Its not Cyclist v Motorist, Its motorists v incompetent motorists.
Every time we enter a debate about cycling make people aware of the fact that we are motorists. Don't feed into their bs.
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Permalink Reply by Peter Hill on -
'don't poke the bear', not sure what metaphor that is all about, but my motto is 'don't spank the monkey'.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Jenkins (BJ) on -
Riding on roads without motor vehicles is a great feeling - making suitable arrangements on suitable roads for a once yearly event is fine. Closing a major highway even for a short period of time would have taken up quite some resources by all parties concerned - right down to notification of trucking networks and interstate bus services (assuming this was done). What a waste when there was a simple and better alternative right next to it. That portion of Sunday's event was merely a publicity stunt.
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