Thanks to our friends at Streetfilms, Columbusites can be ready for bike boxes when they start popping up around town…
In NYC, they help cyclists prepare for right turns when bike lanes are on the left side of traffic.
In Portland, they give cyclists the “pole position” and increase visibility. This prevents the dreaded right turn into cyclists in a bike lane. As it turns out, it’s actually a fix for a high accident area where a couple of cyclists tragically lost their lives.
As reported by Tim Doulin at the Dispatch, Columbus’ first bike box will be installed on Milton Ave. to bridge a troublesome gap in the Olentangy Bike Trail. It will be fitted with bike sensors to change the traffic lights when cyclists “go boxing”.
Eric,
We don’t have any bike boxes here in Chicago, but we do have those green lanes through a couple of car-bike conflict points. Have you used the boxes in Portland? Do you feel like they make a big difference in terms of safety? I like the green lanes used sparingly in Chicago.
The New York bike boxes seem a little different than the Portland boxes. In New York, it seems that they’re meant to facilitate changing lanes by providing space in front of the traffic. In Portland, it looks more like the Columbus bike box, where it allows cyclists to get to the front of the queue and be more visible to traffic. I don’t have any serious safety concerns about the Portland/Columbus bike boxes, but I have questions about the New York boxes.
-What if the signal is green instead of red as approaching on your bike? How does one change lanes then? Would you pull over to the left and wait until the signal changes?
-What if the signal changes from red to green as you’re cutting across traffic in the bike box? That seems like it could create conflicts.
I actually haven’t, but I’ve seen a few just driving around town. Usually I make a beeline for the riverfront bike trail and use that as an arterial.
I think your take on NYC vs. PDX is pretty spot on. NYC definitely looks like there could be a tricky quick decisions, but let’s face it, it’s not safe to use any form of transportation in NY.
The NYC box in the video is only useful there because the bike lane is to the left of 2-3 lanes of traffic. It’s a strange set up to me.
Portland uses them as extensions of their existing bike lanes, which always seem to be on the right side of the road. It just makes cyclists visible at intersections to avoid the dreaded “right hook” from drivers.
I think one of the biggest benefits to Columbus cyclists is that drivers will see some different paint on the ground. Any cyclist awareness is good awareness.