I agree it's often poorly done from the standpoint of the bicyclist, but, after all, it's done so as to increase pothole patching in the spring.

If they'd pile the plowed snow in the middle of the street rather than at the gutter, there'd be far too few potholes in the spring, and people would have to do something more useful. After all, when the snow is piled at the curb, it's right at the junction between asphalt (if that's what's been used as a wearing course) and concrete curb, or curb-and-gutter. The result, when it's left piled there for a week or so, is that some of it melts, runs down in the gap between the concrete and the asphalt and then the freeze-thaw cycle takes effect, breaking away the asphalt.

Now maybe European public-works departments are smarter than to do that, but here in the U.S. it's common to find one's driveway blocked by the berm of plowed snow. If that same berm were in the middle of the street, one would still have to remove it in order to gain access to one's driveway, when turning from the far side, but, at least, one could get out of one's driveway and could then travel in at least one direction. Further, the freeze-thaw cycle would have much less impact on the integrity of the asphalt, since there's no asphalt-to-concrete junction in the middle.

RE