No. The B-Decks is my name for the idea that I had, and I have sent you helpful text in 2 attachments to the email to Daisie, but I have no illustrations, as any graphic skills I have on or off of the computer are worse than my abominable penmanship.

However, this should help:

Been reading about Chris Hardwicke’s Velo-City ideas; looking at his illustrations, and listening to him on a radio talk.

I think my vision is completely compatible to his with this analogy: His wind-tubes seem to be like the high speed “freeways” of the elevated bike path system, while my open-aired B-Decks would then be the smaller and slower “surface streets” of the same overall system. The B-Decks then are particularly important for those standard short 3 to 4 mile trips around the “neighborhood”.

Here are a few of the related ideas I am sending you by that email:

I really see the roundabouts as the optimal “intersections” for the various B-Decks. This lets them all operate at the same elevation, instead of having to live N-S decks, for example, over E-W decks. And I have a few parallel ideas, like right turn bypasses at the busier roundabouts, circular interfaces with adjacent businesses, and frequent U-Turns that allow a rider to change directions.

I don’t have the cyclists change elevation much, except, perhaps, to rise and slow for the roundabouts, and then drop and leave them more swiftly.

I put “solar slats” (rigidly mounted slats that are angled to allow winter sun, but not summer sun), along the sides of the B-Decks. Very important for places like the “sun belt”, especially here in Arizona. They also allow good visibility out for the riders, so they don’t feel too claustrophopic.

I use rooftops, (also important in the sunbelt, if not the snow country as well), but cover them with photovoltaic panels for energy collection. Up that high the trees are not so likely to block the sun. I even suggest that the structures carry conduit for power lines that transport electrical energy. These energy uses would have the effect of doubling the function of the B-Decks, and helping to fund them.

I especially focus on trade-offs that the jurisdictions can give to induce the construction and use of B-Decks. The big limitation in our auto-driven world is the parking space required for a given amount of building space. So, without costing itself any $$, the jurisdiction can allow the development of commercial air space that only has to provide the associated amount of elevated bicycle parking spaces, and can hook into the B-Deck system, so long as it pays for its share of its cost. As a real estate attorney, I see this as a major tool.

Yes, it would make a big change in the appearance of the urban landscape, which, in the case of Phoenix (the cow town where I grew up), could be an improvement. However, allowing the various developments along the way to have the architectural gingerbread, if not even the structural designs, blend with their development could help the overall appearance and the sense of space.

Seems to me we have all gotten used to some pretty ugly overall streetscapes; so part of what might happen is just an adjustment to another one. On the other hand, the view from up on the B-Decks could be the real hidden reward.

By way of an email to Daisie Maud today, I sent you some information on what I call “B-Decks”:

“a dedicated, one-way only, non-stop system of urban bicycle-only traffic, that also uses bicycle roundabouts above every ground-level intersection, so that bicyclists can venture everywhere throughout the city without being stopped by traffic signals, pedestrians, motor vehicles, etc., and get where they are going much faster than those pedestrians and motor vehicles because they are not stopped by those traffic signals.”

I am not a bicyclist, and this idea first came to me about 1 1/2 years ago independently without me knowing until today that others had already thought of it.

However, I do believe that I have described some very helpful features to support the idea (if not a punchy name), and hope to get your input, as you seem to be the person with the latest and deepest involvement in the idea.

Thanks.

Noel Hebets

1) Facilitating the daily peak hour commute of cyclists
2) Providing an efficient network for cycle couriers [ http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/professions-occupations/courrier-my-experience-and-advice/369300/ ]
3) Providing a tourist network for cycle based tourism

It would still seem that rich, complex, dense city with a high level of traffic inaccessibility, a great urban panorama, and a mild climate is the ideal location for a cycle tube network.

I would suggest the parks would be the ideal spill out spaces for the network to give cyclist alternatives between slow and fast, exposed and covered cycle routes.