In July 2010, the city of Washington, D.C. (DDOT) installed a contra-flow bike lane along New Hampshire Ave. leading towards the intersection of U and 16th streets. The purpose of the project was to facilitate a popular diagonal movement for cyclists heading southwest by reconfiguring a street with excess capacity and low traffic levels. The contra-flow…
The Sands St. two-way raised cycle track in Brooklyn, NY was constructed to provide a safe, protected route for cyclists connecting to the Manhattan Bridge and the planned Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. Following the re-opening of the Manhattan Bridge north path to bicycle traffic in 2004, the percentage of bicyclists using Sands St. as a connector…
In the fall of 2007, the New York City Department of Transportation built the first on-street parking and signal protected bicycle facility in the United States on Ninth Avenue between 23rd Street and 16th Street in Manhattan. Ninth Avenue, a 70 ft.-wide avenue formerly dominated by motorists, was reduced from four unassigned traffic lanes to…
The city of Madison, WI utilizes bicycle signal detector loops to improve access and decrease wait times at signalized intersections for bicyclists. Two to four detector loops are installed along any approach where a local neighborhood road frequented by bicyclists meets a signalized intersection at an arterial road. Loops may also be installed on collector roads and…
Background New York City’s Allen and Pike Streets safety improvement pilot project demonstrates how cities are using relatively inexpensive treatments to improve the quality of life for residents and the business community. Excessive speeding and unpredictable movements, along with underutilized public space, raised safety and access issues to the most vulnerable road users. In…
In September 2008, the University of North Carolina Highway Research Center, in coordination with the State of Florida Department of Transportation, released a study on the effects of green colored pavement in the weaving area between a through bike lane and a right-turn lane for motor vehicles. The green color was installed in the dashed…
Galileo Way in Cambridge, MA is a multi-lane roadway with a center median and a curbside bike lane. The street serves as a connector for both motorists and cyclists to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Campus (M.I.T) and the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge crossing the Charles River into Boston. A bike lane runs southbound along Galileo…
In 2003, Vassar Street in Cambridge, MA underwent a full reconstruction as part of a large scale building project undertaken by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As part of the development, the city redesigned a one mile stretch of Vassar Street from Main St. to Audrey St. with east and westbound raised cycle tracks…
In 2004, the San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic conducted a study on the effects of different types of shared lane markings on cyclist and motorist behavior. Using before and after videotape data, the city investigated the impact of three different markings- bike-in-house, bike & chevron, and bike & separate arrow- to evaluate how each…
Second Street in the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach, California is a busy corridor which runs parallel to the beach. Many cyclists use the route as a connection between the beach, Orange County, and Ocean Boulevard. The street has significant motorized and pedestrian traffic, and bicyclists often choose to bicycle on the sidewalk rather…