Cambridge Becomes First U.S. City to Require Protected Bike Lanes

There’s been a strategic breakthrough on the front lines of the American bike wars: This week, the Boston suburb of Cambridge mandated that protected cycling lanes be installed on all streets that are slated for reconstruction under existing city plans. Local law now requires the city to erect vertical barriers between cyclists and cars on any roadway that’s rebuilt, expanded, or reconfigured under the Cambridge Bicycle Plan, a proposed 20-mile network of separated lanes, or the city’s five-year street and sidewalk plan. But the ordinance may be replicable even in cities without the same level of existing enthusiasm for cycling, Feigenbaum said: “It’s tied to street construction, which is something cities need to do whether or not they’re putting in bike lanes.

Source: www.citylab.com