In Boulder, Colorado, the bike lanes are plowed first.  That gives you an idea of where they put their priorities.

And this is from a popular Copenhagen bike blog:

We salt our bike lanes and roads here in Copenhagen. Sometimes the wide stripe of salt on the bike lane is my weather report. If I see the stripe I know that snow is forecast and the city is ahead of the game with a preventive measure to ensure that the bike lane is as clear as possible until they can get out with the bike lane snowploughs.

People typically chose their transportation mode based on what’s faster, easier cheaper, and in some cases, greener.  The $4 gasoline prices certainly put a lot more folks on bicycles.

However, through the decades, mode choice has tilted toward motor vehicles for a number of reasons, including artificially cheap parking.

But there are ways to make biking more preferred.  Imagine if cyclists didn’t get red traffic lights?

Copenhagen and Amsterdam have something called the Green Wave.  They time the traffic signals on selected, highly-trafficked routes so that cyclists get all green lights heading into the city center in the morning.  At noon the green wave reverses, giving cyclists leaving the city center all greens.

The City of Odense in Denmark has even installed bollards with a moving green light to pace the cyclists so that they get the green at intersections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEOakvjuIEs

Riders getting their glow sticks on

Last night was the second Motorcity Motorless bike ride out of Royal Oak.  This bi-weekly ride starts at 10 PM on Saturdays in Downtown Royal Oak at Second and Center Streets.

It’s not your typical club ride.

It’s more relaxed. For the most part, riders where normal clothes versus lycra.  Some don’t wear helmets.

But for me, the biggest positive is the ride takes main roads.  Rather than wiggle through neighborhood side streets or take sidewalks, we just take a lane on Main Street, 12 Mile Road, Greenfield, etc. And I’ve talked to many Illinois personal injury lawyers who’ve told me time and again how bad of an idea that is to the bikers.

It was among the safest group rides I’ve ever been on.  We followed the rules of the road better than any group ride I’ve been on.

Why?  Unlike other area rides, we weren’t constantly calling out turns, dealing with parked cars on neighborhood sidestreets, and going through intersections with stop signs.

Were we making a statement about bikes rights to the road?  I don’t know and it really doesn’t matter.

On a related note, this blog entry from Copenhagen talks about some of the signs they have there.

I love this sign. See it all the time. “Cyclists in the driving lane”. It is usually posted when there new segregated bike lanes are being built and the cyclists are redirected into traffic. Don’t worry. It’s not dangerous. We’re used to it, motorists and cyclists alike.

I like the tone. There are cyclists in the driving lane. Period. Adjust accordingly to this fact.

The video below is from the Knippels Bridge in Copenhagen during rush hour. If this were in Detroit, people would assume it’s an organized group ride. Is it any wonder than Danes make up the happiest nation?

Note that a dedicated bus (and tulip truck) lane provides some separation between the cars and bikes.

Imagine how many more lanes of roadway would need to be built if these cyclists were in their own individual cars.

Thanks to the Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog for originally posting this video — “bike advocacy in heels.”

Not only does Copenhagen have a well developed network of bike lanes, they have specially designed bike lane sweepers. In the winter, they use something similar but with snowplows. [Source: The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog]