Washington, DC: New L Street Green Lane Opens with Promises of More

By David Cranor

Chicago isn't the only city celebrating a new cycletrack. Washington, DC Mayor Vincent Gray opened the new cycle-track on L Street earlier this month. Several dozen citizens showed up to celebrate the opening and to ride the new cycle-track, which went from groundbreaking to ribbon-cutting in a matter of months.

San Francisco welcomes first bicycle bay

By Alexis Chavez

Anyone who has tried to navigate the streets of San Francisco knows how difficult it can often be to make a left-hand turn, and attempting to do so on a bicycle is no different. In this city, three right-hand turns are sometimes required in order to cross that pesky street you can’t turn left on; yet, transportation authorities have come up with a solution for one of the city’s most popular intersections.

Earlier this month, the San Francisco…

A great day in Chicago: green lanes open in the heart of the Loop

By John Greenfield

This afternoon when Mayor Rahm Emanuel opened the new two-way protected bicycle lanes on Dearborn Street, it was the exclamation point to a memorable year of bike improvements. Dozens of advocates gathered at the south end of the 1.2-mile greenway for the event, which also celebrated Chicago’s reaching a total of thirty miles of protected and buffered lanes citywide, plus the release of the Streets for Cycling Plan 2020.

The “game-changing” lanes on Dearborn, running the length of the Loop central business district, create a car-free route that…

Memphis: Green Lane Project Improves Development

By Anthony Siracusa

Three weeks ago, I wrote that Memphis' Municipal government was fundamentally rethinking community development. To move from being the worst city in the nation for bicycling just a few years ago to being a national leader is an indicator of this shift, a signal that it isn't just our extraordinary Mayor and City Council who are taking a new approach to roads, buildings and neighborhoods. The commitment now spans the length of municipal…

Protected Green Lanes Nearly Double Nationwide in 2012

Total to Double Again in 2013 According to New Inventory

The simple bike lane, the stripe of white paint that creates a space for riding on the road, is getting a makeover in cities across the U.S. The improved space, called a “green lane,” adds physical separation between moving cars and bikes, such as a curb, parked cars or plastic posts. A new inventory released today by the Green Lane Project shows the number of these protected green lanes on the ground nationwide has nearly…

Portland: 3 electronic tools that help build great bikeways

By Michael Andersen

Bikes are simple machines. But cities that are building great bikeways are getting backup from some simple electronics.

Behind the scenes of Portland's newest green lane project is a case study in small ways to improve bike-friendliness using hardware that's a little bit higher-tech than bollards or curb cuts: webcams, Bluetooth connectors and GPS units.

Just a decade ago, the jobs these devices do would have required far more time and expense, or not been done at all.

Peter Koonce,…

Pedaling for Safer Roads Bike Rally in Austin TX

By Jen Reel

The Please BE KIND to Cyclists organization hosted a Pedaling for Safer Roads bike rally November 29, 2012. Hundreds of people rode their bikes from city hall to the Texas Capitol steps to promote bike safety and awareness as a response to recent deaths in the bicycle community caused by traffic accidents. Austin city council member Chris Riley spoke about his experience working with the Dutch Bike Embassy and stressed the importance of building green lanes for a bike-culture community. Excerpts from his speech are used in this video.

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Oh Dearborn! A virtual tour of Chicago’s first 2-way green lane

By John Greenfield

Looking north at Dearborn and Monroe streets. 

These are definitely thrilling times for Chicago cyclists. Last summer Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) would be installing the city's first two-way protected bike lane on Dearborn Street, a multilane northbound street through the center of the Loop downtown district. In November CDOT installed bike-specific traffic signals to guide southbound cyclists and prevent conflicts between northbound bikes and left-turning motor vehicles. On Friday the department announced that striping would begin this weekend.

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