Sidewalk design fail: when pedestrians prefer bike paths to sidewalks

I've noticed something I have never thought about before, even if it was right in my face for nearly 25 years. I come from the Québec suburb of Boucherville, which, as far as North American suburbs go, isn't that bad. Sure, the population density is low, but streets aren't too wide, averaging 7-8 meters (24 to 27 feet), most streets have sidewalks on at least one side, elementary schools are largely located in the middle of neighborhoods, within walking distance of most kids, there are some groceries and proximity stores inside residential areas, the city zoned for multifamily apartments along primary streets (where buses are) and near stores, lots of trees...

Small apartment blocks along a  relatively narrow collector street, note the bus stop to the right

Planters serving as pedestrian refuge at a crossing of a main street

Narrow residential street, with trees on either side enclosing the street well

This is a residential street, not a main street, but there are sidewalks on either side and the street itself isn't so wide

At the same time, it still has low density overall, and stores have huge parking lots in front. Some places are quite far from anything, the walk score of my childhood home is 13, but one street over to the west, it's 2. The bus routes make loops inside the city and are almost useless to travel within it, their use is strictly to take people to the nearest subway station, either in Longueuil or to Radisson station on the island of Montréal.

Anyway, one of the things the city has done, being almost a precursor in that regard, is building bike paths on its main streets.

Boucherville and its bike infrastructure

This is what the bike paths look like where I lived, which has been around as long as I remember, so about 30 years (feeling old here):

Bike path in Boucherville

So one asphalt path aside from the street. But in fact, I've not been entirely accurate, this bike path, like many others, are not actually bike paths, but "multi-purpose paths" (piste multifonctionnelle in French). Essentially, it's not only for bikes, but for roller skaters, pedestrians and all active modes of transport. About the only things banned are motorized vehicles. Hence why in the latter photo there is no sidewalk on the other side.

Okay, so where am I getting at? Well, I've noticed a particular phenomenon at work. In places where there is a multi-purpose path on one side of the street and a sidewalk on the other, pedestrians will, almost 90% of the time, choose the multi-purpose path. How is this significant? Well, the sidewalk is supposed to be the place for pedestrians, yet, when given a choice, pedestrians in Boucherville will prefer the multi-purpose path, a path built primarily for bikes where they are forced to shared the path with cyclists.

Multi-purpose path on the right, sidewalk on the left... pedestrians on the right only

 Now, I know what you may be thinking: "Well, there are trees giving shade on the right and apartment blocks on the left, maybe it's not about the design of the paths but simply what's beside it". Except this next photo...

 

Again, pedestrians opting for the bike path rather than the sidewalk

...shows a place where the sidewalk borders a PARK. You know what's next to the bike path? Railroad tracks, used only by freight trains. Still, people choose the bike path, they will even cross the street to walk on it rather than on the sidewalk.

And I've found a more evident example of pedestrian preference on Street View. This is in Laval, on the Boulevard du Souvenir:

Sidewalk and bike path side by side, everyone in the bike lane (Boulevard du Souvenir, Laval)

Note again how pedestrians keep opting for the bike path rather than the sidewalk... a few feet away!  

And yesterday I was biking in Longueuil and saw this place with bike paths in gravel and sidewalks on each side of the street:

Longueuil, bike paths in gravel in the median, sidewalks on the sides

I didn't take a picture then, but I guarantee you, all the pedestrians I saw were on the bike path, none on the sidewalks.

So what gives? Is there any lesson to learn here about pedestrian infrastructure? Personally, the first thing I get from this is that pedestrians don't actually seem to like the standard North American sidewalk. Maybe it's too narrow, maybe it's too close to cars, either parked or in movement, maybe the curb cuts are annoying, maybe the way it's built is not all that comfortable (concrete blocks with evident joints).

I also get that pedestrians largely do not care about having to share a space with cyclists. Sport cyclists may hate it because the presence of pedestrians forces them to slow down when passing them (like car drivers who hate having to pass slower cyclists on the street), but it doesn't seem to bother either pedestrians or cyclists overall. It seems that since both pedestrians and cyclists are very vulnerable in a collision, and both know it, they can easily travel alongside one another, both will be careful of the other and take care.

Maybe my experience in Boucherville is what made sure I wasn't out of my element on my Japan trips when I had to walk on sidewalks shared with cyclists. I did also much prefer the way the Japanese build their sidewalks to the standard sidewalks here.

So, should we revise the way we build sidewalks in North America? Is it just a case of a bad design we keep on using because, well, that's how we've been building them for a century or so and it's the standard?