this post was submitted on 15 May 2026
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Desire Paths
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Desire paths Desire paths can be paths created as a consequence of erosion caused by human or animal foot-fall or traffic. The paths usually represent the shortest or most easily navigated routes between origins and destinations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path
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These are worldwide, they keep motorized vehicles off paths except for maintenance.
You ignored the side view, they can be easily traversed while on bike, I do it every day. But I love when the Internet second guesses engineers. Guess why these are on either side of a public road? Because otherwise idiot cyclists would not slow down and get hit riding into live traffic.
Unless the bike has a trailer, or it's a cargo bike, sometimes even mobility scooters may struggle.
Good luck getting a kayak through too, one of these means I need to take a pretty big detour when I want to go kayaking.
Cyclists seriously aren't a hazard, unless they're fat bikes. And this blocks wheelchair users.
I'm aware of their function. But they actively make the bike path worse for all users and block it off for some legitimate uses (wheelchairs, cargo bikes), that's why I'm saying there has to be a better solution. Like putting up blocking posts with a distance of ~1.8m on both sides of the path would be enough to keep cars from entering.
And if there's so little traffic on the road that cyclists don't expect it and slow down naturally, it might be a good idea to give cyclists the right of way at that intersection and design it accordingly.