JF, you title the thread "In praise of cycle lanes" but then extol the virtues of cycle paths . Urban or semi urban cycle paths are a useful means of getting from A to B on a bike. Nobody should be able to find fault with the concept . its just the execution and then the uptake that is below par in the U.K.
Part of it is due to the national attitude to cycling -ie it's for folks who can't afford a car.
Really? I always felt it was the opposite. Sustrans has built a lovely network of cycle routes that are wonderful if you ride an upwrong, and want to take the kids on a bike ride on a sunny Sunday afternoon. *BUT* if you want to actually use them for transport. With a few minor exceptions, they just aren't suitable. Half the time they represent the longest route between two points (pick a journey planner of choice, and try plotting a route from Canterbury to Sandwich that actually follows Route 1 the whole way), or they are under water for several months of the year, or not cleared of ice in winter...
And of course if your bike is anything other than a light weight upwrong, you're going to struggle to take it on many of the cycle ways sustrans has built.
Conversely, recently .NL opened a cycle route from Arnhem to Nijmegen (or is it from Nijmegen to Arnhem?) it's like it was built by romans. You can get on the path with a 3 wheeled bakfiets, with a trailer on the back. You may share the path with Snorfiets, you may share it with weird car things that are limited to 40kph. But by and large you're going to be sharing it with Omafiets. Often ridden by Oma or Opa.
This makes me think I really should turn on my camera and record my ride to work...
One of the first semi-decent bike paths in York used the redundant trackbed of the east coast railway line. When it was first opened only a few cyclists used it. Sustrans had the vision to create something almost revolutioanary in the area. That single piece of work was the foundation for a network of cycle paths in York.
BUT, its not just the path itself and cycling. It offers many people a chance to get out into countryside and get near the River Ouse so there are attractions beyond cycling attached to it. The Beryl Burton Greenway around Harrogate is probably used by more dogwalkers than cyclists,so maybe we should stop calling them cycle paths and start calling them public access/recreation routes.
If the cycle path doesn't go from where people are to where they want to go, it's about as much use as transport, as Silverstone is for car transport...
J