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Re:Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rail cro... by chrisseaton on Monday June 28, 2021 @07:19PM (#27669608)
Why would you expect to be able to bicycle over a footbridge? They follow footpaths. You shouldn’t be cycling on a footpath. They’re for people on foot. It’s not a bridleway or cycle path. Clue is in the names!
Re:Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rail cro... by CyberDildonics on Monday June 28, 2021 @08:54PM (#27670340)
Are there separate "cyclebridges" ?
Re:Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rail cro... by fy20 on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @02:11AM (#27672430)
In the UK a "footpath" is a legal right of way for people on foot. It's often muddy, goes through fields with animals, and there usually are many gates or stiles [0] you need to cross. You probably could cycle over parts of it, but some of the footpaths near where I grew up are even hard to walk as the hedges between fields are often overgrown. You only have the right to walk along a footpath, any other use - including cycling - without the land owners pernission is considered trespass.

Often they are hundreds of years old, so any new construction needs to allow the public to cross over them. When I was growing up, one of my neighbours did a lot of research into footpaths in the area, and uncovered a lot of forgotten footpaths. Some of them even went through people's back gardens, and as they were legal rights of way, they had no choice but to open them up (apparently there's a way to move them now for cases like this now).

[0] https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/stile

Re:Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rail cro... by chrisseaton on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @05:07AM (#27673525)
How do you imagine you would get to this bridge with a bicycle in the first place?
Re:Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rail cro... by CyberDildonics on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @10:54AM (#27676674)
What bridge are you talking about specifically?
Re:Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rail cro... by chrisseaton on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @11:10AM (#27676922)
I think you're possibly missing a whole lot of cultural context.

These bridges are needed because a legally mandated footpath crosses a railway line. That's why so they're lightweight - because they're often very rarely used - they're there mainly for legal compliance.

You can't cycle on these kinds of footpath - both legally but also literally because they're usually just mud and across agricultural fields and you would have to cross stiles. You couldn't cycle to them even if you wanted to.

So no there is no cyclebridge, because nobody would be trying to cycle over them.

Re:Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rail cro... by CyberDildonics on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @07:04PM (#27682898)
What you are saying is incoherent.

First you berate someone for talking about bicycles because "footbridge" is in the name, then you ask how people would get to "this bridge", which makes no sense because there was no specific bridge in the first place, then when asked what bridge you are talking about you jump to "cultural context".

Re:Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rail cro... by chrisseaton on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @07:38PM (#27683181)
> which makes no sense because there was no specific bridge in the first place

The context is that nobody would want to bicycle over these bridges in general because where these bridges are generally used it is not legally or physically possible to get to them on bicycle.

The point therefore is your question doesn't make any sense if you know the context.

Look at the other comments saying the same thing as me if you want another perspective to help you understand if you're struggling.

Re:Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rail cro... by CyberDildonics on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @11:31PM (#27684540)
Why were you trying to talk about a specific bridge if it didn't make any sense in context?
Re:Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rail cro... by chrisseaton on Wednesday June 30, 2021 @04:43AM (#27686362)
Nobody here was ever talking about a specific bridge.

I don’t know if you’re a non-native speaker? ‘This bridge’ means ‘this bridge design’.