Bike Expressways
Chris Hardwicke is in constant demand to talk about his futuristic ideas for a bike "highway". His scheme is as ambitious in scope as any freeway built for cars. Hardwicke didn't start as a cycling advocate. He's a local architect who was looking for a design challenge. "I needed to work out an issue in an unconstrained way and I settled on congestion," says Hardwicke. [ VIEW IMAGES ]
 Chris Hardwicke At the architecture firm where he works, Hardwicke takes the lead on many urban planning projects, which often involve working out road issues. So he began researching alternative transportation systems. "There are all kinds of them out there," he says. "But it's hard to come up with a more efficient vehicle than a bicycle. Also, they're fairly popular in Toronto, more than in some American cities, so I liked that too. There's a grassoots culture here for cycling."
His research then took him to the city's official bike plan and its proposal for a network of bicycle lanes. He was surprised to find how poorly designed it was. "The plan has great language, but as a bike network, the bike tracks are just..." He pauses, searching for the right analogy. "They're just worm tracks." In fact, he says, you can read the city's proposed bike network as a political map. "It's a plan of where they could get away with putting in bike lanes," says Hardwicke, "without taking away a lane from cars."
Hardwicke's alternative plan evolved in several stages: "It had to work exactly like a highway and follow right-of-ways that already exist. And it had to be a continuous network. If it's not continuous, then it's just recreational."
Some of the design problems were quickly apparent. Creating bike lanes within existing highway corridors was out of the question, because there was no easy way for cyclists to cross the road.
It didn't take long, says Hardwicke, to make the next lateral leap. Put the bike lanes in the air. "Just like a pedestrian overpass," says Hardwicke, "except it follows the road," crossing over the car freeway at key intersections. "And the bike tunnels could go back to grade when necessary."
The next issue was how to make sure the bike lanes could be used year-round. "That always, always comes up as an issue whenever people propose bike lanes. The argument is why give up a right-of-way to bikes if it's not going to be used for most of the winter?"
Enter the next key idea. Put a roof over the bike lanes.
A Tube with a View
Suddenly the design solution became as obvious as the problems had seemed earlier. Make glass tunnels, which have all kinds of advantages. They let you see the world outside. They reduce the wind resistance. Take the idea a step further by splitting the tube in two, for traffic going either way, and the aerodynamics create conditions in which bicycles have a tail-wind in each direction.
"It's essentially fluid dynamics," says Hardwicke. "The more people who use the tunnel, the greater the tail wind. In fact, it's the only transit system that gets better as more people use it."
It's one of those ideas that seems to have captured the collective imagination. Hardwicke says ever since his designs were first published in 2004, he's been fielding interview requests from all over the world. Drawings of the bike network (dubbed 'Velo-city') have been published in at least 20 newspapers and magazines.
His vision has engaged more than media attention. "People have been sending me all kinds of ideas," says Hardwicke. "Proposals for a giant velodrome where you could hold marathon races on weekends. Or tunnels that would take you to the country for picnics."
There are plenty of other design details to work out. A shoulder inside the tunnel where people could pull over if they needed to make repairs. Shower stations. As for bike pile-ups? "I thought about that too. You'd have to police the tunnels. It would become a whole little city inside the tunnels."
What's Next
What Hardwicke hopes will happen next is a non-governmental group formed to lobby for research money. Another option would be to go to Bombardier or a venture capitalist, an idea Hardwicke is not as fond of, because he hopes the bicycle network won't cost users anything. If people like it so much, he says, there has to be a way to fund it.
But turning Hardwicke's vision into reality will be up to someone else. Hardwicke says the feedback has been overwhelming. Almost too much, too fast. People began taking up his proposal, says Hardwicke, before he'd had a chance to work out many of the design details.
But perhaps it's inevitable with an idea whose time appears to have come. "Engaging a real issue is essential," says Hardwicke. "And I think not being an activist actually helps. I draw plans for a living. And so I can be objective about how bikes fit in with the rest of the traffic."
Meanwhile, Hardwicke is already moving on to his next big idea. He's interested in what it would take to grow food locally by designing a skyscraper farm. 'It would solve the depletion of agricultural land. And it keeps food production localized."
He pauses again. Then he says he doesn't want to get too deep into yet another great idea, with no financial backing in sight. He's aware that another brilliant idea could once again overwhelm him.
 Interior view
 Cutaway view
 Exterior view
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