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Kolelinia Aerial Cable Support System for Bicycles

I was recently sent a link to the fascinating Kolelinia aerial cable support system for bicycles. While not cable propelled, per se, it clearly uses cables and is well worth exploring.

Created by architect Martin Angelov, the Kolelinia allows cyclists to travel in mid-air above the line of traffic. Cyclists follow narrow u-shaped furrows supported by two aerial cables. cyclists are then attached to a third safety cable via harness and carabiner.

There are several questions I have about the concept (interestingly, they’re not so very different than questions I’ve had to answer about CPT): Does the safety wire prevent the bicycle from falling, or just the cyclist? How do cyclists pass one another? What about snow and ice build-up in the furrow? I can’t seem to find the answers to these questions, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.

The Kolelinia reminds me of a past proposal by Chris Hardwicke called velo-city:

velo-city

Hardwicke’s concept was certainly intriguing and garnered a massive amount of attention, but like similar concepts before it, velo-city suffered from one major flaw: Economics. The cost to build such corridors (not to mention maintain and operate) were such that the concept never took off.

Could the Kolelinia solve velo-city’s economic problem? Possibly, but who knows. Increased cycling is going to be one of several major changes our urban centres will see in the future and the more people think about it the better. So here’s what I’d like to see:

Lock velo-city’s Hardwicke and Kolelinia’s Angelov in a room for a weekend and see what they come up with. Do that, and we just might find ourselves with a high-capacity, low-cost bike lane in the sky.