Belgium!

Stuart Field (Utrecht, Netherlands) writes:
Here are a few pictures of cycle lanes in Bruges, Belgium.

The image above shows a two-way cycle path by the station.
Note the triangles on the side road clearly indicate
that cars must give way to bikes –
however there is no indication that the cycle path is two way.
The main road at this point is one way:
two lanes of cars and a bus lane,
then a two-way cycle lane separated from the
bus lane by a rumble strip.

The other images show another junction, about 100m to the right of the first.
Here the two-way cycle lane crosses the main road.
After that, however, it gets a bit weird for cyclists
who don't want to go under the railway bridge.
Going away from the picture (on the right-hand side of the road)
there is a dual use cycle path/pavement
which is bumpy and not wide enough.

Coming towards the picture (on the left-hand side of the road)
is a red cycle lane (see above).
Cyclists must cross the road at the pedestrian crossing,
make a sharp turn and wait behind the line (as in image 2)
before crossing (as in image below).
This would be fine except that at rush hour
I have seen up to 20 cyclists waiting behind the line,
and there isn't much room.
Fortunately, most of them arrive from under the railway bridge
where there is more room and no sharp
turn is needed.

Conclusion: the cycle facilities in Bruges are better than those in the UK
but not as good as those in the Netherlands.

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