Cycling|Kulosaari’s bike street has ended up with a special temporary crossing arrangement, where the bike path seems to lead to the oncoming lane.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
Itäbaana’s construction site in Kulosaari causes confusion in traffic.
Cyclists and motorists face dangerous situations at the intersection.
After the intersection, the bike path seems to direct the bikes into the lane of oncoming cars.
Bicycle streets in Helsinki are becoming more common, but the practices require clarification.
Is it this is the most difficult intersection in Helsinki? The cycling Itäbaana junction at the eastern end of the Kulosaari parkway has proven to be difficult.
Due to construction site fences, motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and public transport have had to be careful with their routes. Itäbaana’s construction site stretches from the Tupasaarenti intersection to Herttoniemi.
At the crossroads cyclists should move across the entire intersection to the very other side. However, many people continue straight, just as the cycle path seems to continue, but end up driving in the lane of those driving in the opposite direction.
On Friday afternoon, a cyclist navigates the opposite direction of travel to the lane on the Kulosaari park road from the break in the construction site fence.
Some of the cyclists coming from Tupasaarentie under the metro bridge pass on the wrong side of the crosswalk platform when turning left.
At the crossroads often driving Stefan Loman has witnessed near-miss situations and confusion in the dodging rules. The problems are compounded by the fact that there was still only one lane available from the construction site to the Kulosaari park road on Friday.
“When driving from east to west in the morning rush hour, the bike path seems to continue over the intersection into the oncoming lane. A car turning left has to take into account the traffic coming from the right, avoid those coming in front and at the same time watch out for cyclists coming from behind from the left and those coming from the underpass. I don’t know how the implementation of such a dangerous intersection ended up,” Loman thought on Friday morning.
However, the construction site arrangements are changing quite soon. Itäbaana’s project manager Jukka Revon according to the street, the paving of the street will start on Monday, and after that the construction site fences will be taken down.
“The problem can be that you don’t follow the route, but cut straight across the intersection,” Repo commented on Friday.
The Kulosaari bike path is both a carriageway and a bike path at the same time.
Although the construction site arrangements would be removed, the Kulosaari parkway causes the same problems. It is Helsinki’s first bicycle street where both cars and bicycles share the same lane.
This creates confusion about who is dodging whom.
Motorists don’t always know if they can pass cyclists riding in the same lane. If a motorist starts to pass, some cyclists protest.
The idea of bicycle streets is that, according to the revised Road Traffic Act, cars must adjust their speed to the speed of cyclists, and give cyclists unhindered access.
If the car is left behind the cyclists, according to Loman’s observations, the fast cyclist coming from behind can pass the entire hose either from the left or the right, and sometimes even through the sidewalk.
Pedestrians the position at bicycle street crosswalks is awkward. Riskaltis is especially the crosswalk leading to the Kulosaari metro station, which is located under the hill.
One year after the opening of the bicycle street The opinion piece published by HS in 2022 according to which pedestrians had to dodge cyclists speeding onto the crosswalk at that time. Stefan Loman has also made similar observations.
At the beginning of September, he witnessed a dangerous situation where a cyclist who had fallen onto the crosswalk had to get caught under other traffic.
“As I approached the crosswalk, the car in front of me slowed down and so did I, and we stopped. Cyclists started from the left to pass the cars and cross the crosswalk, where one cyclist collected his struggles,” says Loman.
Helsinki cycling coordinator Oskari Kaupinmäki according to the city has a clear vision of how a motorist can pass on a bicycle street.
“The city’s interpretation is that a car can overtake a cyclist on a bicycle street with special care and consideration of public safety, if there is a need to do so, for example due to the cyclist’s relatively slow progress.”
Cause it is, because the bike streets known from Denmark and Holland are becoming more common in Helsinki at breakneck speed. This summer, a new bicycle street was completed in Tilkanvierto.
New ones are coming to Kaisaniemenranta and Töölö to Merikannontie. In Kalasatama, the Capella park road has been built as a bicycle street, but it has not yet been officially marked as a bicycle street.
Some cyclists prefer to ride on the sidewalk rather than on the bike street.
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