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TransAmerica[1] does well enough with minimal physical infrastructure. I totally agree that it's nice to have a dedicated cycle path but it's hardly necessary
by bacon_waffle 6y ago
TransAmerica[1] does well enough with minimal physical infrastructure. I totally agree that it's nice to have a dedicated cycle path but it's hardly necessary for a cycle trail to be continuous.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransAmerica_Bicycle_Trail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransAmerica_Bicycle_Trail
- choward 6y agoThat's not what most people think of when they think of a trail.
- ghaff 6y agoBasically no long distance trail is created from scratch. They link together existing trail networks, negotiate agreements with private land owners, use roads as needed, and sometimes just have gaps. That's the case for both hiking/walking and cycling (although cycling trails are probably much more likely to include road stretches).
- bacon_waffle 6y agoThe Appalachian Trail is the grandaddy of American long distance walking trails, it is relatively old and was specifically designed to get people in to the woods - even it has bits of road shoulder. While there may be examples of long "trails" in the US that are entirely exclusive of "road", they're certainly not common.
- chrisseaton 6y agoA cycle trail along 'two-lane highways' sounds frightening.
- oh_sigh 6y agoWe have one near me that connects Boulder to a nearby city(Longmont). I would never bike on it, but a lot of people do, and as far as I know there have never been any biker fatalities. All of the biker deaths in the past 10 years have come from one lane roads with an unprotected shoulder for bikers.
- bacon_waffle 6y agoI found most of it to be quite pleasant, except a large fraction of Kentucky (and I say that as a former resident) due to the combination of malicious drivers and extremely harsh road design.