Bike Lanes Everywhere You Look

There’s a lot of buzz about bike lanes around the network today.

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia links to a local TV news story about how illegally parked cars and even construction materials are frequently blocking newly created bike lanes in that city.

The view from the bike lane in Philadelphia. Photo by Bikes on Transit via Flickr.

Old news, right?  Drivers use bike lanes as parking spots all the time. But what’s really remarkable about the relatively in-depth news segment is that it treats motorists’ bad behavior seriously as a safety issue, acknowledging that vehicles parked in a designated bike lane can endanger the lives of cyclists. It’s worth watching, if only as evidence of a potential shift in attitude in the mainstream media when it comes to the right of bikes to share the road.

Meanwhile, our Twitter friend @keg41 linked this morning to an LA Times story about the growing number of cyclists in that city and the debate over how best to integrate bikes into an overwhelming car culture. The piece is pegged to the ongoing trial of a Brentwood physician who allegedly used his car to assault two cyclists on the road where he lived, but it goes on to provide a fairly thorough overview of some public health issues associated with biking, including the debate over whether bike lanes are good for bikers. Perhaps the most significant thing about the article is that it doesn’t treat biking as something cute or quirky or trendy.

Meanwhile, Twin Cities Streets for People calls out a Prius driver who couldn’t seem to stay out of a Minneapolis bike lane. And The WashCycle breaks down a proposed DC zoning change that could mean more bike parking.