Taipei is to tilt the balance of space available on the city’s streets toward cyclists, Taipei City Government Traffic Engineering Office Director Tiger Chen (陳學台) said yesterday.
He made the comments at a Department of Public Works event to announce the widening of 4km of sidewalk next year that is set to include stretches of Heping W Road, Xinsheng S Road and Roosevelt Road.
The roadways are to be narrowed to make room for more sidewalk space, which is to be partly lined with trees and include bicycle paths, benches and public art.
“Past road design has mainly centered on automobiles, largely ignoring the needs of pedestrians and cyclists” Chen said.
While road design would continue to take into account the needs of scooters, a significant amount of space would be allocated to pedestrians and cyclists, he said.
With the increasing popularity of the city’s YouBike public bicycle rental system, the use of bicycles has increased 24 percent since 2011, he said.
Given the city’s goal of increasing bicycle use to 12 percent of all traffic use by 2020, Chen said the city would move to accommodate and encourage bicycles at the expense of scooters and cars.
For example, the sidewalk expansion along Xinsheng S Road would be accomplished largely by eliminating moped parking space along the road, he said.
The planned sidewalk expansion is an addition to existing plans to construct a lattice-work of three horizontal and three vertical bicycle paths across the city center, New Construction Office Director Huang Chih-feng (黃治峰) said.
Setting up separate bicycle paths would help improve safety, he added.
Police statistics show traffic accidents involving bicycles have increased 41 percent since 2010.
A contract for the sidewalk expansion project is to be awarded by January, with construction to be completed by the end of the year, the Public Works Department said.
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