Whereas strolling my son to high school a few weeks in the past, I observed one thing odd occurring on Court docket Road, a serious thoroughfare that runs via 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 want 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, one of the vital 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 vehicles 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 house for residents preferring to get round on two wheels somewhat than 4. And it’s top-of-the-line, 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 just lately, bikes now outnumber vehicles two-to-one at peak hours. In Montreal, greater than a 3rd of individuals cycle a minimum of as soon as per week, and use of the town’s bike-share program has doubled since 2019. In Copenhagen, bike journeys make up nearly 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 perfect, however by constructing routes in cities the place cyclists can really cycle, with safer designs that make biking the plain, low-stress alternative. Cities are knitting collectively:
- Parking-protected lanes that bodily separate bikes from shifting site visitors. That turns city biking from an excessive sport into one thing you possibly can 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 adjustments make it far tougher for vehicles to swoop via fast right-hand turns, which could be particularly harmful for cyclists.
- Site visitors sign tweaks reminiscent of 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 minimize 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 purple” insurance policies that may shield 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 the town, nudging drivers to the ring highway and reserving interior streets for entry by cyclists and pedestrians. The end result has been a shift towards extra sustainable modes of transport and calmer streets altogether — what you would possibly simply name “livability.”
Lastly, the growth in e-bikes, which supply sufficient electrical pedal help to make an odd 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 hundreds of {dollars} a yr, particularly as the price of proudly owning a automobile has usually been rising. That swap makes much more sense as cities add safe bike storage websites.
Taking a motorbike over a brief journey versus a automobile can cut back carbon emissions by 75 %. Central London, which has mixed congestion charging with new cycle paths and dockless bike sharing, has seen standard air high quality enhance considerably. And silent bikes don’t contribute to city noise air pollution the way in which vehicles — and my specific 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 some extent of biking to work is probably going already fairly wholesome. However it clearly beats sitting in a automobile.
Even essentially the most cycling-forward cities like New York are miles (or kilometers) behind high European biking cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam with regards to bike-friendly infrastructure. And like actually each different concern in the complete nation, biking is already changing 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 vehicles 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 sooner and have extra mass, they’re extra harmful each for cyclists themselves and for pedestrians of their approach — particularly unlawful, quick e-bikes which can be extra moped than bicycle. That may be a actual downside, and one that would finish the biking renaissance if it’s not addressed.
However whereas e-bike collisions get a variety of consideration, they pale subsequent to the sheer carnage we take as a right on our roads, the place over 40,000 folks died in motorized vehicle accidents in 2023. The variety of pedestrians killed by vehicles is now over 7,000 a yr, a quantity that has been rising for greater than a decade. But nobody is calling to ban vehicles.
When cities construct bikeable routes that really feel secure for an 8-year-old like my son, adults who may very well be in vehicles will experience bikes, too. And when extra folks experience, the advantages — security, clear air, quiet streets — compound.
On Court docket Road right here in Brooklyn, that new protected lane already seems to be odd. That’s the purpose. Atypical is how tradition adjustments lives. I nonetheless fear about my child on a motorbike, 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 strategy to transfer.
A model of this story initially appeared within the Good Information publication. Join right here!
