From June 26, in Minsk, bicycle lane markings appeared. Currently, work continues on the site, road services suggest that it will take another two days to complete. Therefore, testing the cycle lane should be postponed for now. And in the future, we recommend that you be very careful on this site: all road users should get used to the changes.
In the future, every cyclist over 14 years old will be able to ride on the carriageway, cross intersections without going down into underground passages, and he will be absolutely right! For more than two years, MVO has been seeking the implementation of the cycle lane project on ul. Horuzhei.
The MVO team, together with the specialists of the NCHUP "BAES", has developed a project of bicycle infrastructure along Vera Khoruzhei Street. Dutch and German experts came to Belarus and made their proposals. This year, the project went through several stages of approval at the traffic police of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate of the Minsk City Executive Committee, all proposals and recommendations were taken into account, and approval was obtained at all levels.
The project provides for one of the forms of organizing cycling - a cycle lane on the carriageway, which can be implemented in different versions. The most common and economical option is marked by markings on the common carriageway lanes for the movement of bicycles. Such a solution is effectively used all over the world, does not require a radical reconstruction of the street and allows for the rapid development of cycling infrastructure.
There are also examples of such infrastructure implementation in Belarus - these are bike lanes in Brest, Polotsk, Pruzhany and other cities.
For the pilot project in Minsk, a section of Vera Khoruzhey Street in the central part of the city from the street. Kuibyshev to st. Yakub Kolas. In the adjacent territory there are many shopping centers and the largest in the city Komarovsky market, which attracts a large number of people every day. Under existing conditions, it is almost impossible to ride a bicycle on sidewalks due to the large number of pedestrians. At the same time, the carriageway, judging by the illegal parking in the outer lanes, is used ineffectively. Also, a significant inconvenience for cyclists is caused by underpasses at the intersection with st. Kuibyshev.
Calculations of the traffic intensity showed that the narrowing of the carriageway will not affect the traffic capacity of the street: cars are already moving in one lane, and the street is underloaded. For additional protection, it is envisaged to limit the speed of vehicles to 50 km / h and highlight the cycle lanes in color at intersections with the carriageway and in the area of stopping points.
The city authorities decided that the first stage of the cycle lane will be implemented without installing delinators - physical barriers that prevent cars from entering the cycle lane. The same solution is successfully used, for example, in Brest on the street.
Ya. Kupala. Nevertheless, the Minsk Cycling Society believes that if it is not possible to eliminate illegal parking, then deliniators will be needed in the future.
One of the most problematic places on the road is the intersection on the street. Kuibyshev with the existing underground passages. To ensure the connectivity and continuity of the cycling infrastructure, bike rides with separate traffic lights are provided. Thus, another goal of the project was worked out - the creation of bike crossings at intersections with underground pedestrian crossings.
In the future, this project can be used as a standard solution for the transformation of many streets in Minsk and other cities of Belarus for cycling.
Expert work on the development of the project was carried out with the financial support of the European Union within the framework of the project “Urban Cycling in Belarus”.
