Bicycle/pedestrian path on the Queensboro Bridge in New York City. The two trenches are worn entirely by bicycle tire traffic. These are not car tracks as the width slightly varies later. The city has done zero effort to clean the bridge paths after the snow and almost zero effort to clean protected street bicycle paths. The intended use for this path is for pedestrians to be on the right half (you can see the middle dividing white line if you look for it), and for bicyclists to use the left two quarters. You can notice the yellow line intended to divide the two directions of bicycle traffic, with about 2ft per direction. The actual spacing resulting from natural use is on display and apparently way different.
Exactly right! The desire on display in this snow path is the desire for more space/safer lane width tolerances. The handlebars on my bike alone are more than 2 feet wide, I literally cannot fit in the quarter-lane as designated!
There's been talk for several years of repurposing the mirror traffic lane on the other side of the bridge for exclusive pedestrian use, which would solve this. Both lanes were originally streetcar tracks when the bridge was first built, then converted into car lanes and remained so for decades. The car lane still in use on the opposite side is hardly even used because the un-expandable 8 feet is narrower than standard lane width. Trucks and larger cars can't fit there, almost all motor vehicle traffic goes through the interior bridge lanes instead. Yet for years the city resisted the switch. Showing desire is important to win them over.
I do have good news to report for accuracy's sake: after several more snowfalls during the winter, the many bridge paths did get salted every time afterwards, and this scene did not repeat. Must have been an aberration!