Environmental Blog- - City Bicycle Lanes

The Environmentalblog.org posted a blog post entitled “City Bicycle Lanes” which describes the innovative new bicycle lanes set up on city streets throughout the Netherlands. As pictured above, these bicycle-only lanes are reddish-clay colored and are the same width as the regular car lanes which are parallel to them. There is plenty of room for bicyclists to park and lock up their bikes along the bike lanes, as well. This groundbreaking setup is a great idea both environmentally and economically. It allows individuals to hop on their bikes and ride wherever they like, at whatever speeds they like, without having to worry about filling up their cars with gasoline and waiting in traffic.

As more and more people in the Netherlands begin relying on their bicycles for daily commutes, instead of on traditional gas-guzzling means of transportation, the air quality in the region will certainly improve. Gasoline is full of pollutants which are released into the atmosphere through exhaust pipes on cars and trucks. Also, gasoline that is leaked onto paved roads flows into nearby grass and fields, and the result is polluted runoff flowing into our rivers and streams. Cutting down on the amount of cars and trucks on city roadways is an environmentally-friendly tactic, and the Netherlands has introduced their method in a profound, new way.

Of course, riding bicycles to work everyday also has a positive impact in the economic sense. It is much cheaper to ride a bike to work than it is to spend money on soaring gas prices, or pay public transportation fare. Not to mention, it is a great source of exercise and is healthy for the human body.

I think it would be very beneficial if this idea was brought home to the United States. Of course there are some county roads in the US with bicycle lanes; however they are nowhere near as well set-up as the ones found in the Netherlands. We need to bring this idea, or at least some of its positive attributes, to our own city roads. I researched the setup of county roads in New Jersey and found that quite a few of our most traveled county routes do in fact have bicycles lanes painted on the side, however they are not very safe, and are not very commonly traveled. In the Netherlands, they separate bicycle lanes altogether from the regular lanes for cars and trucks. Making a separate bicycle lane parallel to the regular roadway, with a median in-between, would prove to be the safest and most effective means of transportation for cyclists. This way, cars would not be able to hit bicyclists at all, even by a slight swerve or veer of the steering wheel.

Many of New Jersey’s roads don’t even have the abovementioned system of bicycle lanes being painted on roadways. A friend of mine was riding his bicycle down a crowded city street, and a woman who was parked in her car on the side of the road opened up her car door just as my friend was riding past. With no time to stop, his bike crashed into the woman’s car door and he flew over the car, landing himself in an ambulance ride to the hospital. It is very important for local and state governments to take the steps necessary to preventing this kind of bicycle accident, as well as all kinds, from taking place. Most bicycling accidents on city roads can be easily avoided by incorporating new and improved systems of bicycling lanes, such as the innovative new idea introduced overseas in the Netherlands.