If you ride in Vancouver, you’ll have noticed that bike routes are going green. Not in a metaphorical, good for the environment kind of way, but in a literal, the bike lanes are being painted fluorescent green sort of way.
But why green?
And why now?
“About 8 to 10 years ago, the City started experimenting with paint colours to mark certain high-priority bike lanes,” says Dale Bracewell, manager, Active Transportation Branch, City of Vancouver.
“The intersection at Main and Union is an example of the red paint that we originally started with to increase visibility of cyclists where bikes and traffic co-exist and share the road.”
But after consulting with other North American cities on the success of colour treatments, a continental best practice is emerging: green is the bike lane marking colour of choice.
So, 10 years after the inaugural splash of colour, the City is using this summer’s painting season to bring lanes up to North American standards and into alignment with Vancouver’s long-range transportation plan. “The goal is to have any red space made green for the end of the season,” says Bracewell. “We’re also applying colour to new, high-conflict locations.”
Adding this highly visible treatment to places where bikes and vehicles interact (intersections, turning lanes, merge lanes, designated roadways) is just one component of the City’s “toolbox” of tactics they’re implementing to make Vancouver more cyclist-friendly.
The idea is that by making the lanes more prominent by putting a visual separation between bikes and other traffic, lane discipline will improve and an awareness of cyclists will heighten. “The City wants to make cycling safe for all ages and abilities by helping everyone, from pedestrians and cyclists to drivers and buses, learn how to better share the road,” explains Bracewell. “We’ve received feedback that cyclists feel safer and that the coloured lanes create better awareness of and separation between bikes and vehicles. The perception of safety is increasing.”
Green bike box on 7th Ave – a tool the city uses to increase cyclists’ perception of safety.
Feeling safe is huge when it comes to getting more cyclists on the road. And more cyclists on the road is critical in decreasing bike/vehicle accidents. A 2003 report on injury prevention cited that if cycling participation were to double, the injury risk per kilometre decreases by a third.
Next summer the City will assess the potential for more green locations, based on collision rates and perceived safety of certain roadways and intersections. An example is Alberni Street, rather than limiting the green-colour treatment to areas of shared bike-vehicle existence, the City opted to paint the entire lane, creating separation between cyclists and traffic for its full length.
An important gauge of the green lanes’ success is public observation and feedback. If you have thoughts on Alberni Street or another location, you can email the City at transportation.plan@vancouver.ca.
Not from Vancouver? Then let us know what’s happening in your city with bike lanes — do they exist or is your neighbourhood taking bike/vehicle awareness into its own hands?
What makes you feel safer? Is it your own knowledge of safe riding, or your cycling safety gear? Do you feel better when there is separation – visual or permanent – between the four-wheeled and two-wheeled traffic? Are you feeling the green?
Filed under: Activities, Cycling
