Bike Lanes

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets. Second in a series.

Staring down a highway trust fund that he described as "teetering toward insolvency" by August or September, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Monday that better bike infrastructure projects are part of the solution.

If you ever want to show someone that it's possible to change streets and cities for the better, Google Street View can now help you do it.

FiveThirtyEight went viral in our circles earlier this month, with a post titled "Bike Lanes Don’t Cause Traffic Jams If You’re Smart About Where You Build Them." Our colleagues and friends, people who love to ride bikes and want to make cities more bikeable, sent this article zooming around the tightly-wound corner of the internet that is all about #bikes. The post had a much-welcomed conclusion, backed by data, charts, and statistical tests: Bike lanes have a negligible effect on congestion. Streetsblog noted the implication that complete streets need not be a zero-sum game, while arguing that bike lanes should be measured by safety, connectedness, and other measures beyond congestion.

Gretchen Johnson and Aaron Johnson have posted a nice debunking of typical "war on cars" rhetoric over at fivethirtyeight.

It wasn't a total surprise, but exciting nevertheless for bicycle advocates gathered at the NACTO "Cities for Cycling" Road Show in Oakland last night. Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty announced that the agency will endorse the use of the National Association of City Transportation Officials Urban Street Design Guide, giving California cities the state DOT's blessing to install modern infrastructure like protected bike lanes.

Michael Andersen is a staff writer for the Green Lane Project. This story was crossposted from the PeopleForBikes Green Lane Project.

Detroit's bicycle advocates have built a powerful tool for change in the annual Tour de Troit bike ride. This two-wheeled tour of the city's historic landmarks has grown to attract more than 6,000 riders, making it the largest bike ride in the state of Michigan.