Special Series
Bicycle Neglect
In a Series
More What "Bike Friendly" Looks Like
1. Blue lanes.
(Photo courtesy of Jayson Antonoff, International Sustainable Solutions.)
My youngest son often bikes to drama rehearsals. It’s about three miles, mostly on traffic-calmed neighborhood streets and a bike trail—pretty good bikeways, overall. The only parts I worry about are the intersections where he has to cross especially busy streets, like six-lane Highway 99.
Oregonians share my concern about crossing big roads on two wheels: they told the state’s Bicycle Transportation Alliance that unsafe intersection crossings are the biggest barrier to cycling (pdf). On many routes, and particularly for children, busy intersections are the weakest links in Cascadia’s emerging bikeway network.
One cure is Blue Lanes. Pioneered in the cycling meccas of northern Europe, they are bicycle lanes through intersections boldly painted to demarcate which road space is reserved for pedal power. Typically, they’re accompanied by traffic signals specifically for cyclists. The city of Portland has installed ten blue lanes to date.
