Stephen Rees's blog

I have been on Twitter this morning and there is a picture of a mother and daughter riding their bikes on the sidewalk.

Seeing that reminded me of the pictures that I had taken outside the place we were staying at in Chicago’s Loop district (downtown). The bike lane is a bit better in Chicago than North Van but it is still just paint. And as the three pictures show a lot of green paint does no more to deter cars from entering the lane than that thin white line with the occasional bike logo. Anyone riding a bike down East Washington St would have to swerve around those parked cars putting them in line for a potential collision with moving vehicles.

If you look closely at the two left hand images you can see in the previous block a big bus shelter outside the bike lane providing excellent separation.  For the 60 feet length of a bus anyway.

For more see “Walkable City Rules” (see previous post) Part XII Build Your Bike Network especially Rules 58 and 59. Best practices are outlined in the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide. 

By the way if you like those cars on green bikelane pictures, follow Streetsblog New York (@StreetsblogNYC) on Twitter for more.