Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Rolf Mantel Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech Subject: Re: New York's Crackdown on Ebikes Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2025 13:24:49 +0200 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 56 Message-ID: <101k1m0$349bv$4@dont-email.me> References: <1010gi0$1lt0p$1@dont-email.me> <10127kh$23tsl$1@dont-email.me> <10133s3$29550$1@dont-email.me> <101fp89$1ei79$1@dont-email.me> <101fs3h$1fan7$1@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2025 13:24:48 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="9699d8b5bb21092fa4be75c3d497baa8"; logging-data="3286399"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19vkSplkbGqbKs+A9gSq8Sg" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:fVOaFpDuTX8SQhUz980NZkDHEkk= Content-Language: en-US In-Reply-To: Am 01.06.2025 um 12:04 schrieb Roger Merriman: > NFN Smith wrote: >> Roger Merriman wrote: >>>> We also have several canals (including one right next to my house) that >>>> have dedicated multi-use paths on one side of the canal. These are more >>>> or less municipal paths, and very much a magnet for recreational use, >>>> ranging from simple pedestrians to serious cyclists. On the other side >>>> of the canal (at least in the space near my house) what's there is >>>> essentially a service road that is owned by the water utility that >>>> operates the canal. In some places, the service road is paved (and also >>>> suitable for cycling, as it's even wider than the multi-use path), but >>>> only a mile in either direction, the surface is gravel. >>>> >>> >>> Those are lovely places but not particularly useful for utility purposes as >>> they are narrow and is limited as to how many can useful use such places. >> >> Besides passing visual similarities, the two are entirely different >> situations. >> >> In Europe, I think that most canals tend to be done to facilitate >> drainage, especially working around population density. Where I am, the >> space is flat and very spread out. Our canal system was actually built >> several hundred years before the first European or Euro-American >> settlers. The Europeans modified somewhat with more modern engineering, >> but for both, the intent of the canals is to move water from the river >> system into places that it can be used for agricultural irrigation. >> > No European Canals where for transportation of industrial materials had > fairly brief moment in history before the railways arrived, hence the tow > paths for horses. > > Are places where you get irrigation and drainage such as the fens where > they have drained the swamp as you where, but they aren’t the normal use > for canals which are transporting materials and goods. Are still some in > use like the ship canal between Liverpool and Manchester. "Europe" is a big region. We have drainage canals in swamplands and flat coastal areas (e.g. Germany, Netherlands, Fenlands in the UK). The larger ones usually have "dam's crown" lanes on both sides but sometimes interrupted by newer roads, thus rarely/barely useful for recreational purposes. There are irrigation canals in the drier regions in shouthern Europe; the old ones usually have a footpath for maintenance alongside. Then there are the transportational canals in the two varieties "pre-railway" (mostly in UK, France, Belgium, and mostly derelict ones in other countries) with tow paths and modern ones the size of major rivers which usually have paths that can be used for recreational purposes if they are not interrupted by ports (or a port bypass is built). Rolf