Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Bicycle Infrastructure

An Idea That Sticks: Another Plunger-Protected Bike Lane Goes Permanent

11:34 AM EDT on June 16, 2017

Fountain Street in Providence, R.I., last month. Photo: James Kennedy of Transport Providence.

There's been something in the air this spring. Can you smell it?

Two of 2017's three cheekiest guerrilla bike lanes have now been made permanent.

The Providence Journal reported Tuesday that the city of Providence, RI, has taken a local group's civic action to heart and started installing flexible plastic posts where a row of plungers had been set up, separating a "floating" parking lane from a curbside bike lane on downtown's Fountain Street.

Similar plunger-bike-lane installations this year came in Wichita and Omaha. Wichita, too, made its short stretch of plunger protection permanent two weeks later.

Parking-protected bike lanes have become common across the United States. But practices differ on whether to include plastic posts. Posts cost about $60 apiece, including installation time, but they make it more obvious where people are (and aren't) supposed to park cars.

The Journal reported that the new posts can be removed during the winter, if necessary, to keep the street plowed.

Organizer Jeffrey Leary, 49, told the paper he spent $72 on the Providence demonstration: $1 per plunger.

Martina Haggerty, a projects manager with the Providence planning department, said the city had always planned to improve the Fountain Street bike lane "incrementally" but that the plungers "certainly gave a new sense of urgency to it, which is great."

"I think it's a really effective way of bringing about change and bringing things to the attention of officials," she said.

A national trend: hyperlocal activism

Maureen Persico of San Francisco, organizer of a temporary person-protected bike lane. Photo: Roger Rudick, Streetsblog SF.

Meanwhile, across the continent in San Francisco, residents are conducting a slightly different campaign: They've literally been standing in the streets themselves to call attention to the number of people who try to pull across unprotected curbside bike lanes in their cars. That, too, has prompted local politicians to call for permanent physical protection.

Maureen Persico, a lead organizer of the San Francisco effort, said direct, fun local actions like these can be powerful during a time of national political turmoil because they can open a "little crack" in people's walls of cynicism or isolation.

"It's cheap, and it's pretty easy to get people together," she said. "And there's a lot of people interested in the issue. Everybody knows somebody who's been hit by a car."

PlacesForBikes is a PeopleForBikes program to help U.S. communities build better biking, faster. You can follow them on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook or sign up for their weekly news digest about building all-ages biking networks.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

The Price Is Right for Tuesday’s Headlines

If congestion pricing works in New York City, City Lab predicts that other U.S. cities will quickly follow suit.

November 28, 2023

DOT’s New Emissions Rule is a Big Deal, Even if It Doesn’t Punish States for Polluting

No states will face penalties for building needless toxic road projects — but they also won't be able to hide those impacts from the public.

November 27, 2023

Monday’s Headlines Need Less Oil

E-bikes are a great alternative for short trips, and they're actually saving more fossil fuels that electric cars.

November 27, 2023

Highway Boondoggles 2023: This Bridge is a Bridge Too Far

Presented by local transportation authorities as a simple bridge replacement, an expensive, oversized highway expansion threatens to worsen congestion in Vancouver and Portland

November 27, 2023

Friday’s Post-Turkey Headlines

Federal data says the number of people using shared bikes and e-scooters on Thanksgiving is rising.

November 24, 2023
See all posts