safety / enforcement
Heavy-duty bike lane snow removal
Here is a heavy-duty bike lane snow removal technique from Copenhagen, where the city prioritizes bike lanes and emergency routes for clearing before regular motorized vehicle streets (from Copenhagenize).
Beauty and the Bike
This is an 8 minute documentary film that acompanies a new book soon to be released in the United Kingdom, Beauty and the Bike.
The book charts the journey of the Darlington girls, as they discover the results for cyclists in the UK of transport policy failure. But they also get a glimpse of how it can - and will - be in the future, as the crises of climate change and obesity demand a radical rethink.
Hennepin Avenue adds often ignored lane markings to bike/bus lane
The "slow rollout" of the bike infrastructure continued recently as the city added lane markings to the Hennepin Avenue bike/bus/right-turn lanes. But just like the orange wands on 1st Avenue, it doesn't take a very long bike ride down Hennepin to see cars who don't understand the new rules. Depending on the traffic, it can be either very pleasant or very awkward toride down this lane. (I was buzzed by a red pickup that passed me heading down the street.)
What can the city do to make it obvious that this new Hennepin Avenue lane is not for regular traffic? Read more >
Leading by example. (Sigh.)
New 1st Ave orange bollards are baby steps towards common sense
Well, at least the city is listening. They installed those familiar orange plastic wands sporadically along 1st Avenue, to try and better mark the limits of the bike-only zone.
I went down there this week to see what it was like, and it didn't take me very long to find many cars parked way over the line. In fact, as I was taking a photo of one black SUV parked in the bike lane, another (even larger) black SUV started to park directly within the bike lane.
I went up to the woman and informed her where the parking was, and she snipped back, "OK, you can go now."
Clearly, the city hasn't quite reached the point where its self-evident to drivers where to park. They're improving, but at this point, 1st Avenue is still a half-baked bike lane. Read more >
LRT night ride
In response to Metro Transits claim the LRT is safe and well-lit. I took this tonight ~ 7:30PM to prove how unlit and dark this area is.
Nothing is changing
On the way back home from Freewheel I took 1st ave and found this green, earth loving person parked near Butler square. I tried to wave down the parking cop I saw, but he just looked at me like I was going to mug him. I guess we should be thankful to the city for giving us the gutter to ride in so people can park like this.
Powered by Pedestrians
Here is a new technology that transforms kinetic energy produced by pedestrians' footsteps directly into electricity. The Pavegen slab can either store the energy in a battery or distribute it to nearby lights. Pedestrians can, for example, power their own warning lights at motor vehicle intersections by walking over the slab before entering the crosswalk. The slabs are designed into the infrastructure but remain disconnected form the power grid.
Portland Police enforcement training video
Via Greg Raisman of the Portland Bureau of Transportation comes to us this great video that the Portland Police Department uses to educate its force about enforcement of traffic law in situations involving bicycles. The first incident the video covers is the "right hook" which is a common problem and will continue to be an issue on the new layouts of 1st and Hennepin Avenues in downtown Minneapolis. It would be great if Twin Cities municipalities and Police Departments looked into doing something similar to improve the effectiveness of traffic law enforcement in Minnesota.
Cyclist killed on bike trail crossing in Saint Louis Park this weekend
A cyclist was killed this weekend by being struck by a car on the LRT bike trail through Saint Louis Park, at an intersection where the trail crosses Belt Line Boulevard. Details after the jump... Read more >
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