Two-tier society

@CiaraNi Car-centric thinking. It's dumb and annoying.

@holsta Yes! Good point. This bothers me too. It feels so dismissive and rude, even — literally shovelling a problem away from drivers in their metal shields and onto exposed, unprotected cyclists and pedestrians. This photo is from a previous snowfall, but the same problem is everywhere in Aarhus too today. I saw people with mobility aids struggling to clamber over slippery mounds of cleared road snow that block the kerb cuts at pedestrians crossings.

@monstreline Me too. It's a brilliant podcast. Always fascinating stories, so well told.

@eivind The 'forever icebergs' — that's a great phrase for them. Takk, den låner jeg. Yes, great point. This a self-defeating problem.

@RandamuMaki It is. It's a resilient problem. We are lucky that our city is not generally car-centric, with bikes and pedestrians often given right-of-way over cars and with people-centred infrastructure. But for some reason, the exception is during snow. It can takes days before the paths are cleared, even in the busy city centre.

@Enema_Cowboy Oh my. I thought at first that this was a poorly designed path that took a weird winding route with an unseen bit around a bend. Then I read your Alt Text (thanks) and understood it is two unconnected 'paths' that just ... stop. A 'stroad' - what a word, what a concept! Thanks for sharing this.

@davemq @Enema_Cowboy Am glad to hear that the phenomenon of residential areas being built without paths seems to be dying out. I hope those peculiar paths that just 'stop' get replaced in the future by proper integrated pedestrian infrastructure.

@CiaraNi You do mean 3 tier don’t you? Look at the path for walkers.

@savera Two-tier. Snow cleared for motor vehicles. Snow not cleared for cyclists and pedestrians, i.e. everyone else.

@CiaraNi @Enema_Cowboy The real punchline is that it is, despite discontinuity, in fact an improvement vs. many non-pathed roads in the area. The mayor for many years was a cyclist and did push for bike paths and infrastructure such that it’s … better than it would have been otherwise … certainly better than you’d expect given other policy decisions by the same administrations, but still leaves a lot to be desired.

@CiaraNi and now it’s becoming three-tier. Council treats the roads then the cycle paths. But pedestrians are still left to take their chances.

Sweden starts with the pavements.