Designated bike lanes offer several benefits to all roadway users, including motorists and
pedestrians:

Safety– With bike lanes present, motorists and bicyclists stay in safer, more central
positions in their respective lanes, according to recent research by the University of
Texas. When passing bicyclists, motorists decreased their incidences of wide swerves
into adjacent lanes (nearly nine out of 10 times) or close passes. And bicyclists traveled a
more predictably straight path within the bike lane.
In addition, adding designated bicycle lanes typically has a calming effect on vehicle
traffic. For example, a study found that a city in Washington was able to dramatically
reduce average vehicle speed from 44 mph to 35 mph (the posted speed limit) by
converting a busy two-lane suburban road into a roadway with narrower traffic lanes,
bike lanes, landscaping and sidewalks.
Bicyclists are also less likely to ride on sidewalks when bike lanes are present. Studies
have shown that bicyclists increase their accident risk by 25 times when riding on the
sidewalk, due to the fact that motorists typically focus on street traffic, and do not notice
bicyclists suddenly exiting sidewalks onto the street, and the risk of pedestrian crashes.

Roadway cost-savings – For the cost of paint and roadway signs to designate bike lanes, cities
can instantly increase the capacity of their existing roadways, without costly expansion. For
example, 91 bicyclists ride every two hours on West Franklin Avenue, just west of Nicollet
Avenue, according to the 2011 Bike Walk Twin Cities Count Report.

Decreased vehicle traffic – Each bicyclist (or pedestrian) you see potentially means one less
person travelling by motor vehicle. This frees up roadway capacity for motor vehicle users.

Economic development benefits – Areas that add designated bike lanes often enjoy an
economic renaissance. For instance, when Orlando, Fla., converted a four-lane undivided
roadway into a three-lane road with bike lanes and on-street parking, city officials noted that
pedestrian traffic increased, and several new businesses opened on the street.
Types of Bike Lanes
While Minneapolis has nine distinct types of bike lanes/markings, they basically fall into one of
three categories:

Traditional bike lanes – These are the most common of bike lanes. They are typically at least 5
feet wide, and marked by solid bike lanes with a white bicycle symbol in each block.

A variant of this type is a green bike lane – these are pavement markings used to
highlight locations where motorists merge across or turn across a bike lane. The green
paint is to alert motorists they must yield to thru bicyclists.
Another close cousin of the traditional bike lane is a bike boulevard. Designated with a
painted bike symbol and “BLVD” marking, bike boulevards are found on lower-volume,
lower-speed streets.

Buffered bike lanes – These are bike lanes which are buffered from immediately adjacent
vehicle traffic through either a painted buffer (marked with white chevrons), or with parked
vehicles, which is a special type of configuration called a cycle track. When riding on a cycle
track, bicyclists pass parked vehicles on the left, with the curb on the right. Motor vehicles may
not drive on top of buffered bike lanes.

Shared bike lanes – These are bike lanes that are shared by both bicyclists and motor vehicles.
They are typically installed on roadways which are too narrow to accommodate traditional or
buffered bike lanes. Shared bike lanes may take the form of an advisory bike lane, marked with
a dashed white line, or shared lane markings, marked with a symbol of a bike and “sharrows”
(derived from “shared” and “arrows”). A motor vehicle must yield to a bicyclist in a shared bike
lane, and may pass the bicyclist only when it is safe to do so.
Learning these types of bike lane configurations may take some time, practice and patience, but
the reward is a likely much safer, free-flowing and effective traffic community. To learn more
about all of the new lane markings in Minneapolis, go to the city’s Web site at:
www.minneapolismn.gov/bicycles/understanding-bicycle-markings.”
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Minneapolis Shared Lanes video
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