Street and city
Bike lane
avenueneighborhood streetlinear parkschool route
A lane or route reserved for bicycles, separated from car traffic or shared during recreational hours.
What it solves
It makes cycling safe and direct, a mode that does not pollute and takes up little space. In the tropics it calls for shade and drainage to be used all year.
Today
Separate the bike lane from traffic with a physical edge, give it width for overtaking and continuity at crossings. Connect it with schools, stops and shops.
Common mistake
Painting a lane that ends abruptly or runs between parked cars and opening doors.
Tomorrow
With tree shade along it, the bike lane can be used in the hottest hours. Safe routes to schools allow girls and boys to cycle on their own.
Fact A Dutch guide recommends lanes at least 2 m wide, and 2.5 m if more than 150 bicycles pass per hour.
Where it comes from
- 1Europe and North America several cities, 1880s
After the bicycle boom the first short stretches of dedicated infrastructure were built. - 2Colombia Bogotá, 1974
The recreational ciclovía was born, closing streets to cars every Sunday, and was copied in cities in Latin America and the world. - 3Netherlands Utrecht and other cities, 20th and 21st centuries
They developed protected lanes and intersections that separate the bicycle from turning cars.
See also
Also in Street and city
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.