Better Bike Lanes: Bike Lane Types

People feel more comfortable walking and bicycling on streets with less traffic. We can create useful routes by connecting traffic-calmed local streets. They can offer important, low-stress routes for people to:

• travel within their own neighborhoods
• get to train stations or bus stops, or
• to connect with the citywide bike network.

When we’re not reconstructing the street, we typically use flex posts. The posts indicate a separated bike lane. During the winter, we remove the posts so they don’t get damaged by winter maintenance activity.

On streets with parking, we place the separated bike lane between parked cars and the curb. We call this a parking-protected bike lane. People on bikes should yield to those who are crossing the bike lane between the sidewalk and their vehicle. Unless otherwise signed, all parking rules remain in effect on these streets.

When we are reconstructing a street, we can build sidewalk-level separated bike lanes. These bike lanes are at the same height as the sidewalk. People should not walk along these lanes. But, they may cross them to access bus stops and parked cars or to cross the street. People riding bikes must yield to people walking across the bike lane. We can also build separated bike lanes with permanent curbs when reconstructing a street.

In some places, we build two-way separated bike lanes. You can tell it is two-way by the dashed yellow line in the middle. We consider two-way separated bike lanes in limited circumstances, such when there are no nearby alternative routes or when one side of the street has far fewer intersections or driveways.

It takes more work to make sure that intersections are safe for people biking in two-way separated bike lanes.

Remember, most separated bike lanes in Boston are one-way only. When in doubt, look for the bike lane arrows on the pavement. They will point you in the right direction.

Direct Routes, Better Access

One-way streets help manage the traffic flow. But, we might want to allow people to bike in both directions on a one-way street if one or both conditions are met:

• Using the one-way street in the contraflow direction helps bicyclists avoid an obstacle, like a major hill or busy street without a separated bike lane.
• There is a major destination, park, or trail access point most easily accessed via the one-way street.

On streets with higher traffic volume and higher speeds, we can add contraflow bike lanes that are separated from vehicle traffic, just like separated bike lanes. This reduces conflicts and helps more people feel safe riding bikes. We design intersections to ensure drivers and bike riders can see each other.

On streets with lower traffic volume and lower speeds, we can add contraflow bike lanes with paint and signage. The lane is positioned so that bicyclists ride on the right side of the street in the direction they are traveling, just like on most two-way streets. If there is parking, the lane is painted along the passenger side of parked cars.