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On Wednesday, a reader shared with the Mercury a photo of 22 newly-installed single U-shaped bike racks on one block along the eastern sidewalk of NW Broadway. The city's homeless encampment reporting system shows that members of the public have repeatedly reported campers on the sidewalk that's now dotted with bike racks […] The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), which regulates sidewalk use and bike rack installation, said the new racks were completely off their radar. — The Portland Mercury
Bike racks have also been deployed in Seattle to prevent tent encampments after that city’s campaign of police sweeps, which have been mirrored recently by its smaller Pacific Northwest neighbor. The owner of the vacant property adjacent to the racks is himself the developer... View full entry
Berlin’s regional parliament is considering creating a car-free zone in the German capital in response to a concerted push from a local advocacy group. The car ban would apply to the space ringed by the S-Bahn train line, which circles the city center, an area larger than Manhattan. — Yale Environment 360
Berlin’s mayor called the plan “unrealistic” back in May, aligning herself with the rest of the Social Democrats, who were joined by every other major political party in the country in their lack of support for the measure at the time of the September elections. A small group of German... View full entry
On this episode of Archinect Sessions we're joined with Alex Baca, a Washington DC-based journalist focused on smart cities, planning, bike advocacy and urban mobility devices. Recent news, and related controversy, surrounding Amazon’s newly announced move into New York City and Washington DC is... View full entry
Mayor Eric Garcetti's office released a statement yesterday announcing that Gruen Associates, Mia Lehrer + Associates, Oyler Wu Collaborative, and civil and structural engineering firm Psomas will design the final 12 miles of the San Fernando Valley portion of the Los Angeles River Greenway. The... View full entry
Even where protected lanes are in place, when they meet up with busy intersections, those protections typically go away, and the logic behind their design can quickly fall apart...Will more widespread standards for bike lane treatment at intersections ever emerge in the U.S.? The Transportation Research and Education Center at Portland State University aims to move that conversation forward with its newest study. — CityLab
Portland State University's TREC research group is working to develop a resource that will aims to help transportation agencies in any city design the safest and most useful bike lane infrastructure for both cyclists and drivers.More on Archinect:The Bike Wars Are Over, and the Bikes... View full entry
Our urban centers were not designed with cyclists in mind; we’re a car-centric society. American cities can try piecemeal approaches, but the reality is that sharing the road is only a small part of the solution. Bikes and cars need their own dedicated thoroughfares to keep everyone as safe as possible, and to encourage people to choose clip-in pedals over gas ones... — Wired
San Francisco recently announced plans – under the initiative Vision Zero SF – to aggressively tackle traffic-related deaths in the city. Part of that plan includes incorporating elevated bike lanes, with Market Street as a pilot project. But according to Jordan Crucchiola, who invokes the... View full entry
Ask a cyclist what it’s like to ride in Indonesia’s capital – a sprawling megalopolis of 10.2 million people...More than likely, they’ll tell you it’s outright dangerous...Car-free days may be popular, but there is almost no [cyclist] infrastructure... [However, there] is hope among cyclists that bike lanes will become a priority after the city’s [mass rapid transport] system is finished in 2019. In the meantime, several young innovators are taking matters into their own hands. — The Guardian
More on Archinect:Australia's "biggest bike-lane skeptic" plans to remove a popular Sydney cyclewayAs bicycle ownership in North Korea rises, Pyongyang introduces bike lanesCopenhagen could ax its pioneering city bike program by month's endWhy a bike city? Why not a mix of biking and transit? View full entry
[Duncan Gay, self-described as 'the biggest bike-lane skeptic', and the] NSW government [are] about to get rid of a much-loved and much-used AU$5M protected cycleway in Sydney’s city centre...Gay’s move seems to go against the flow, with cycling increasingly feted as a potential congestion and pollution game changer in major cities around the world...But he is not alone. — The Guardian
Previous bike-lane news on Archinect:Copenhagen Tops List of the 20 Most Bike-Friendly CitiesAs bicycle ownership in North Korea rises, Pyongyang introduces bike lanesLA Gets its First Parking-Protected Bike LanesBike Lanes Don’t Cause Traffic Jams If You’re Smart About Where You Build... View full entry
Germany might still be a car-obsessed country, but it's starting to build an Autobahn for bikes. — Fast Company
From the U.S. to Germany, urban planners and major corporations are starting to purposefully design for bicycles instead of individually operated cars. In Munich, a proposed network of two-lane bike paths would radiate out from the city center to the surrounding suburbs, creating 400 miles of... View full entry
“In two years Divvy has grown to more neighborhoods and become a transit option for more residents, but cost was still a barrier for too many people,” said Mayor Emanuel. “Divvy only works when everyone has a chance to use it. Today we are bridging gaps by offering $5 annual memberships so more residents can benefit from Divvy, regardless of their ability to pay.” — City of Chicago
Chicago's Divvy ride-share program is one of the most popular in the country. In its two-year history, a reported 9.25 million miles have been logged on more than 4.4 million trips. This Fourth of July alone, 24,500 trips were taken on the pale blue bikes.Earlier this year, the City of Chicago... View full entry
The bicycle makes sense in cities. With rising urbanization, our cities need modern mobility solutions, and moving around on two wheels proves time and again that it can offer results [...]
With each edition, the Copenhagenize Design Company’s Index of the most bike-friendly cities in the world evolves...This year, we considered cities with a regional population over 600,000 (with a few exceptions because of their political and regional importance, and to keep things interesting).
— Wired Magazine
Copenhagenize is a design consultancy based in Copenhagen, Zurich, Brussels and Amsterdam that advises cities on how to become more bike-friendly, often through implementing strategies developed in the Danish capital (which consistently tops the list). These strategies are both infrastructural... View full entry
Boris Johnson today confirmed he would build Europe’s longest segregated urban cycle lane through central London after delays likely to be suffered by motorists were reduced.
The Mayor approved the “Crossrail for bikes” protected route through Parliament Square and along the Victoria Embankment and Upper Thames Street after it won overwhelming public support.
— standard.co.uk
The massive Beltline and an impressive grid of protected lanes that will connect the trail system to key urban destinations are poised to remake transportation in the city that anchors the country's ninth-largest metro area. [...]
As the video above shows, Atlanta's embrace of active space is part of a psychic shift in a city that's shaking off its old Sprawlville USA image with a combination of bike, transit and affordable housing infrastructure.
— peopleforbikes.org
Similar bike-friendly development is underway in the South's other notorious mega sprawl metro area, Houston: The Bayou Greenways Plan: A Game-Changer for Houston? View full entry
The Green Lane Project, established in 2012 by non-profit group PeopleForBikes, continues its ambitious mission to expedite the process of building more protected bike lines with six new U.S. cities in tow: Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Seattle.The program celebrated its... View full entry
New bike lanes certainly make life better for cyclists, but how do they affect drivers? This question is hotly debated, especially when a new bike lane replaces a lane used by vehicular traffic. It seems that unless a ton of people start commuting by bicycle, giving away a lane would cause increased car traffic. But is this really the case? — fivethirtyeight.com