In Germany, a typical bad practice example for wider faster roads is taking away space from pedestrians for only subtly separated cycle paths. Aside from the danger this causes for both slower modes in relation to each other, when and if bike modal share increases a lot more in some places there will be a congestion issue for the cyclists part of the pavement.

The solution for this is not simple, because in between a "bike part" of the street the motorized or mixed section there are frequently trees and parked cars.

I am not at all a pusher for "vehicular cycling". I am for less de-facto segregated space for cars, in other words, less space where cars are allowed at all.

German transport officials - and mainstream cycling orgs. - generally approve of existing seriously-flawed designs like the one I describe. It is all part of what I call the "German Cult of Mobility" which has as one symptom an intense need to keep everything moving fast... really, it's the mantra from most Greens, too. (Related to this, German cities did not implement any congestion zones, but just tailpipe emission reduction goals for each car. The result is cleaner air - for now - but just as much noise, collision danger and "metal fatigue".)

Apparently, we speed up the Muni by cutting lines and stops, we don't enforce the speed limit for motorists, but if cyclists approach 25mph on a dedicated bike path, the sky falls in and we've got to slow them down.

The Germans have solved this one, perhaps with more anal-ness than Americans are used to, with two-tone treatments that designate part of the way for cyclists and part for peds.

-marc