Increasingly being used in rural areas, edge lane roads -- or 2 minus 1 roads -- allow motorists, cyclists and even pedestrians to share the space in the best possible way on relatively narrow roads. Here's how it works.
This kind of road consists of a central two-way traffic lane for motorists, bordered by two small edge lanes reserved for cyclists and pedestrians. The advantage for cyclists is that they have a dedicated lane to use, in both directions of traffic, without fear of being hit from behind by a vehicle. Indeed, the regulatory distance of 1m50 is largely respected when a car overtakes a bicycle in this configuration.
However, care should be taken when two cars cross each other, because things get a little more complicated. The cars have to move out into the edge lane to pass each other, taking care to check that there are no bicycles or pedestrians -- who have right of way. As a result, it can potentially be a rather dangerous traffic route if users aren't careful.
In theory, an edge lane set-up can be built on roads that are already being used by cyclists and pedestrians, with a width of at least 4.5 meters, and with a limited amount of vehicle traffic. It should be noted that speed limits should be quite low, in general around 40 km/h.
Although the concept is still new or unheard of in many countries, it has been tried and tested for many years in the Netherlands and Denmark.
