On one hand you have freeways being dismantled for public parks (eg Portland, Oregon’s west waterfront) and on the other you have parking spaces temporarily turned into public spaces (eg Park(ing) Day). Somewhere in between you have streetside parking for cars being replaced by an inviting, rather fun dedicated bike lane, such as the one featured in the Streetsfilm video above in Boulder, Colorado.
The big deal with dedicated bike lanes is that it actually feels like bikes are prioritized, especially when they have their own traffic signals. Going one step further is a contra-flow bike lane, which goes against auto traffic, and obviously there’s more extensive landscaping to ensure it’s accessible only to bikes.
Boulder, Colorado is a nationally-recognized biking capital, and this dedicated bike lane is a model for the future. However, if you want the best benchmark for dedicated bike lanes in the world, visit the Netherlands where you’ll see these kinds of bike lanes throughout the country.
Just taking advantage of the holiday