Whereas strolling my son to high school a few weeks in the past, I observed one thing odd occurring on Court docket Avenue, a serious thoroughfare that runs by way of our a part of Brooklyn: A lane of the road was being eliminated, to make room for a protected two-way bike lane.
As a father who wish to see his son bicycle extra however lives in fixed concern of him being pancaked by an SUV whereas driving in Brooklyn’s packed streets, I used to be elated by the change — but in addition stunned. Even in Brooklyn, some of the densely populated and walkable locations within the US, about half of households personal a automobile — and I can inform you from expertise, they’re very territorial about their proper to drive them.
But right here was my very own neighborhood, taking away a lane for automobiles and giving it to cyclists. It’s a part of an effort spreading throughout New York and cities across the US and the remainder of the world, to carve out significant, secure area for residents preferring to get round on two wheels quite than 4. And it’s the most effective, most optimistic actions in city growth, one that may make cities cleaner, quieter, and extra sustainable.
Two wheels good; 4 wheels dangerous
In central London, because the Economist wrote not too long ago, bikes now outnumber automobiles two-to-one at peak hours. In Montreal, greater than a 3rd of individuals cycle at the least as soon as per week, and use of town’s bike-share program has doubled since 2019. In Copenhagen, bike journeys make up virtually half of all commutes. And New York has constructed the world’s largest bike community, with 1,550 lane miles, 555 protected lanes, and extra on the way in which. With its Citi Bike program, NY has the largest bike-sharing system within the US.
How did we get right here? Not by simply portray bike lanes on open streets and hoping for the very best, however by constructing routes in cities the place cyclists can truly cycle, with safer designs that make biking the plain, low-stress selection. Cities are knitting collectively:
- Parking-protected lanes that bodily separate bikes from transferring site visitors. That turns city biking from an excessive sport into one thing you may safely do, whether or not you’re 7 or 70.
- Protected intersections that make automobile turns safer and enhance sightlines so each cyclists and pedestrians are extra seen to drivers. Such modifications make it far tougher for automobiles to swoop by way of fast right-hand turns, which will be particularly harmful for cyclists.
- Visitors sign tweaks similar to main pedestrian intervals (LPIs), which give pedestrians a several-second head begin earlier than lights flip inexperienced, in addition to bicycle-specific site visitors gentle phases. In New York, LPIs reduce whole pedestrian accidents by about 33 % throughout greater than 6,000 intersections between 2013 and 2018, whereas cities like Seattle are quickly adopting “no activate crimson” insurance policies that may defend each cyclists and pedestrians.
In bike-obsessed Europe, avenue redesigns have gone additional. The Belgian metropolis of Ghent’s 2017 plan didn’t simply add bike lanes; it particularly filtered auto through-traffic out of the middle of town, nudging drivers to the ring street and reserving inside streets for entry by cyclists and pedestrians. The consequence has been a shift towards extra sustainable modes of transport and calmer streets altogether — what you may simply name “livability.”
Lastly, the growth in e-bikes, which provide sufficient electrical pedal help to make an abnormal bicycle owner really feel like Lance Armstrong minus the blood doping, has expanded who can cycle and the place, although they’ll include actual security considerations.
Begin with value. Swapping out a household automobile for an e-bike can save 1000’s of {dollars} a yr, particularly as the price of proudly owning a automobile has usually been rising. That change makes much more sense as cities add safe bike storage websites.
Taking a motorcycle over a brief journey versus a automobile can scale back carbon emissions by 75 %. Central London, which has mixed congestion charging with new cycle paths and dockless bike sharing, has seen typical air high quality enhance considerably. And silent bikes don’t contribute to city noise air pollution the way in which automobiles — and my explicit bête noire, bikes — clearly do.
Then there are advantages to well being. One UK examine linked biking to work with decrease all-cause mortality, in addition to decrease mortality from heart problems and most cancers. A 2021 meta-analysis discovered that all-cause mortality declined as hours of biking rose. These are correlations, and somebody who makes a degree of biking to work is probably going already fairly wholesome. But it surely clearly beats sitting in a automobile.
Even probably the most cycling-forward cities like New York are miles (or kilometers) behind prime European biking cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam in relation to bike-friendly infrastructure. And like actually each different challenge in your entire nation, biking is already turning into polarized within the US, the place drivers are loath to give up their primacy.
Whereas a lot of that has to do with a car-centric American tradition, there are actual rising pains as biking ramps up. Pedestrians already on the look ahead to automobiles now must look out for bicyclists — not all of whom observe site visitors legal guidelines. E-bikes current a selected problem. As a result of they go quicker and have extra mass, they’re extra harmful each for cyclists themselves and for pedestrians of their manner — particularly unlawful, quick e-bikes which can be extra moped than bicycle. That may be a actual drawback, and one that might finish the biking renaissance if it’s not addressed.
However whereas e-bike collisions get quite a lot of consideration, they pale subsequent to the sheer carnage we take without any consideration on our roads, the place over 40,000 individuals died in motorcar accidents in 2023. The variety of pedestrians killed by automobiles is now over 7,000 a yr, a quantity that has been rising for greater than a decade. But nobody is calling to ban automobiles.
When cities construct bikeable routes that really feel secure for an 8-year-old like my son, adults who may very well be in automobiles will journey bikes, too. And when extra individuals journey, the advantages — security, clear air, quiet streets — compound.
On Court docket Avenue right here in Brooklyn, that new protected lane already seems abnormal. That’s the purpose. Unusual is how tradition modifications lives. I nonetheless fear about my child on a motorcycle, as a result of I’m a guardian. However I’m additionally extra optimistic than ever, as a result of the road exterior his college is quietly educating him — and his metropolis — a greater method to transfer.
A model of this story initially appeared within the Good Information publication. Enroll right here!