What Is a Bike Boulevard?
Traffic diverter on Bryant Street Bike Boulevard
in Palo Alto. Bryant Street has been a bike boulevard
for over 20 years. Residents love it and bicyclists
find it a pleasant and safe route for riding the entire
length of the city.
A bike boulevard is defined as a shared roadway which has been optimized for bicycle traffic. In contrast with other shared roadways, bike boulevards discourage cut-through car traffic while allowing local car traffic and emergency vehicle access.
Priority to cyclists is achieved using a variety of traffic calming elements. Diverters with bicycle cut-outs at mid-block allow motorists to enter the block in order to park or otherwise access a property. Cyclists can continue on the street, though motorists are prevented from entering the next block. These modifications result in calming traffic, improving pedestrian safety, and encouraging bicycling.
Bicycle boulevards improve bicycle safety and circulation by having or creating one or more of the following conditions:
- low traffic volumes;
- discouragement of non-local motor vehicle traffic;
- free-flow travel for bikes by assigning the right-of-way to the bicycle boulevard at intersections wherever possible;
- traffic control to help bicycles cross major arterial roads;
- a distinctive look and/or ambience such that cyclists become aware of the existence of the bike boulevard and motorists are alerted that the roadway is a priority route for bicyclists.
Bicycle Boulevards are appropriate on streets that generally meet the following conditions:
- local street or low-volume collector;
- not a transit or truck route;
- very little commercial frontage;
- roadway is within 1/4 mile of a major street or a high-traffic collector street;
- roadway is reasonably continuous, i.e. it extends over half of the cross-section of the City; it should have few jogs with main segments at least 0.5 miles long.