NYC STREETS RENAISSANCE

Wednesday, January 24th, 2007

StreetFilms: Berkeley’s Bike Boulevards

Berkeley's Bike Boulevards
Running time: 8 minutes 12 seconds

"Bicycle Boulevards really gives the cyclist the sense of owning the road and being able to take the lane and being able to be in the middle of the street where they can avoid the door zone. Cars are expecting that they're going to have to wait for bikes and that they're going to be seeing bikes. It's not going to be a confrontational thing if a cyclist is the middle of the road because it's expected on these streets."

Filed by Aaron Naparstek under Out of Town, Urban Design, Street Films, Bicycling
Comments Link Digg This Email This

7 Comments

  1. Great film. Wouldn't it be wonderful to get just some of these street calming measures implemented in NYC. This films shows it is possible.

    Comment by Steve — January 24, 2007 @ 4:44 pm | Link

  2. Excellent!

    Comment by Linda — January 24, 2007 @ 4:59 pm | Link

  3. Nice film. I wish Portland's bike boulevards had huge markers like SF's. Instead we have tiny circles on the street that only a cyclist could see.

    One important point that isn't mentioned in the film is that (at least here in Portland) bike boulevards often run parallel to busy streets, and one of the arguments in favor of them is that they lure bikes away from the busy streets -- so even motorists indirectly benefit from bike boulevards.

    Comment by Tall Steve — January 24, 2007 @ 5:29 pm | Link

  4. Tall Steve,

    Good point, although I am sure there are those on this list that might argue that is not such a good thing.

    (BTW: I like the fact that you are using "Tall Steve" to differentiate your post since there are so many other Steves on streetsblog.)

    Comment by Clarence — January 24, 2007 @ 5:48 pm | Link

  5. The Berkeley bike boulevards do run parallel to the busy streets (such as Russell Street instead of Ashby). When I lived in Berkeley I was active with the Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition (BFBC) and helped work on the bike boulevard project. At the point that I began to participate in bike issues and activism, we were in the "town meeting" stage; by the time I left the area, the first bike boulevard had been created with street signs and street stencils. It was so gratifying to see how the boulevards have grown and come into their own, and how well they are used. It made me feel good! Thanks so much to Aaron for posting this video!

    Would love to see something like this in NYC, of course. One thing, though - SF and Berkeley are not the same place! SF has nothing like the bike boulevards, even though it has an active cycling/activist community.

    Comment by megc — January 25, 2007 @ 8:02 am | Link

  6. GO PURPLE!

    Comment by Media Boy — January 25, 2007 @ 5:58 pm | Link

  7. Some good discussion going on about this film in Portland

    http://bikeportland.org/2007/01/24/what-portland-bike-boulevards-dream-about/

    Comment by Otto — January 29, 2007 @ 2:54 am | Link

RSS RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.