Bike signals

[Amtrakprod]

Hi all. I'm looking for locations where there are bike traffic signals. Please send locations of bike signals (preferably in the US), and share your thoughts on them! Thanks (:

Here's a bike signal I saw yesterday. It operates with a FYRT and FYLT signal. It's located on Washington street at Highland St in West Newton, MA




iPhone

[Max Rockatansky]

North Fremont Street in Monterey, CA on the oddly placed center media bike lanes:

https://goo.gl/maps/duqkZADzwytPVSEs9

The lanes can be seen in this photo I took:

https://flic.kr/p/2ny4dF7

[froggie]

NE 5th St at Broadway in Minneapolis, MN.  NE 5th is a designated "bicycle boulevard".  Bicycles and pedestrians can cross Broadway from the south here, but not vehicles.  And that's nothing new either.  Vehicles have been blocked to/from the south at NE 5th/Broadway since the 1960s.

[steviep24]

A bike signal in Buffalo, NY
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.902235,-78.8710326,3a,37.5y,186.77h,85.93t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0lgR9o6Xk43DTalpYaFiOQ!2e0!5s20220501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&authuser=0

New York City has many bike signals

[Big John]

A bike signal in Buffalo, NY
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.902235,-78.8710326,3a,37.5y,186.77h,85.93t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0lgR9o6Xk43DTalpYaFiOQ!2e0!5s20220501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&authuser=0

Does the MUTCD 8' separation rule apply to bike signals?

[Rothman]

Southeast corner of Clinton Square in Syracuse, NY.

And a bunch of new ones were installed on Erie Blvd heading east out of the city as part of the completion of the Empire State Trail.

[SkyPesos]

In the op example, I find it interesting that the bike signal is red with a FYA right. I would think it would either be a green bike signal w/ FYA right (so the flashing yellow also means to yield to bikes), or red bike signal with green right arrow.

[mrsman]

North Fremont Street in Monterey, CA on the oddly placed center media bike lanes:

https://goo.gl/maps/duqkZADzwytPVSEs9

The lanes can be seen in this photo I took:

https://flic.kr/p/2ny4dF7

These are really interesting.  Novel to put the bike lanes in the median.  looking at old GSV, it seems that they were able to squeeze them in by taking up some of the preexisting concrete in the median and slightly encroaching into the driving lanes.  But the number of driving and parking lanes generally do not seem to be reduced, so the lanes were simply narrowed (probably to 10 ft wide, which is new standard for lane width on surface streets).

[Max Rockatansky]

North Fremont Street in Monterey, CA on the oddly placed center media bike lanes:

https://goo.gl/maps/duqkZADzwytPVSEs9

The lanes can be seen in this photo I took:

https://flic.kr/p/2ny4dF7

These are really interesting.  Novel to put the bike lanes in the median.  looking at old GSV, it seems that they were able to squeeze them in by taking up some of the preexisting concrete in the median and slightly encroaching into the driving lanes.  But the number of driving and parking lanes generally do not seem to be reduced, so the lanes were simply narrowed (probably to 10 ft wide, which is new standard for lane width on surface streets).

I've yet to see anyone use the bike lanes.  Getting access to them seems pretty obtuse, especially from the western entrance.

[mrsman]

In the op example, I find it interesting that the bike signal is red with a FYA right. I would think it would either be a green bike signal w/ FYA right (so the flashing yellow also means to yield to bikes), or red bike signal with green right arrow.

There is a trend in some places to have the FY right arrow on concurrent with the green bike signal as a method of allowing bikes to proceed, even when cars may turn right.  This is done as bikers have complained that the bike signals were too short, so they also wanted the time for right turners as well.

See this video for application in NYC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCvfPUnpaww

In my opinion, it is really unsafe.  The whole purpose of separating the turning movement from the thru bike movement is due to safety, allowing bikes to proceed without worrying about right turners and allowing right turners to proceed without worrying about bikes (due to blind spots, etc.).  Yes, it means that during the green phase, bikes can only proceed at the beginning and right turns can only proceed at the end, but the sacrifice of time is necessary for safety.


Now, it seems, that in the OP's situation, you have a situation where right turns have a completely separate phase from bikes, but not a completely separate phase from pedestrians.  I.e. At the beginning of the phase, cars may proceed forward, peds and bikes may proceed forward, and right turners have a red arrow and must wait.  Then in the middle part of the phase, cars may proceed forward, peds may proceed forward, bikes must wait, and right turners have a flashing yellow arrow to yield to the pedestrians.  Presumably, there is also an end of the phase where cars may proceed forward, peds and bikes must wait, and right turners have a green arrow in order to complete their turn.*

This seems to be better.  Knowing the inherent safety difficulties of allowing right turns and thru bikes at the same time, the signal forbids it.  But it still allows for pedestrians to have increased time to cross durnig the permissive right turn phase.  Right turners yield (FYA) to peds, and not bikes.

* It is also possible that the protected right turn green arrow is concurrent with the side street left turn instead.

[mrsman]

North Fremont Street in Monterey, CA on the oddly placed center media bike lanes:

https://goo.gl/maps/duqkZADzwytPVSEs9

The lanes can be seen in this photo I took:

https://flic.kr/p/2ny4dF7

These are really interesting.  Novel to put the bike lanes in the median.  looking at old GSV, it seems that they were able to squeeze them in by taking up some of the preexisting concrete in the median and slightly encroaching into the driving lanes.  But the number of driving and parking lanes generally do not seem to be reduced, so the lanes were simply narrowed (probably to 10 ft wide, which is new standard for lane width on surface streets).

I've yet to see anyone use the bike lanes.  Getting access to them seems pretty obtuse, especially from the western entrance.

Generally speaking, median bike lanes are not preferred, since presumably most bicyclists are going short distances.  Generally speaking, someone walking (or biking) down a street is more likely to pop into one of the businesses than someone driving, because it is more likely that their destination is closer.  There is a hierarchy: pedestrain, bicyclist, car.  A bike lane is best when it is near the sidewalk.  If anyone on a bike wants to access one of the Fremont businesses, they will have a pretty difficult time crossing the street.  I can easily see why there aren't many customers to these lanes.

There are standards to the widths of bike lanes.  Generally speaking if you are designing bike lanes that are designed to be "protected" by a row of parked cars, you also have to leave a buffer of 2' -3' to allow for the opening of car doors (and that those car doors don't hit passing bicyclists).  That buffer is not needed if the bike lane is alongside a lane of moving traffic.  I think that the city decided that they could utilize narrower bike lanes, provide protection, and maintain most of the parking, if they implement the design chosen. 

That being said, there are some places with successful median bike lanes like Pennsylvania Ave in Washington DC.

[Amtrakprod]

In the op example, I find it interesting that the bike signal is red with a FYA right. I would think it would either be a green bike signal w/ FYA right (so the flashing yellow also means to yield to bikes), or red bike signal with green right arrow.

It's pretty strange, here's a video of it operating; https://youtu.be/ZQQBYXDiHgo


iPhone

[Amtrakprod]

In the op example, I find it interesting that the bike signal is red with a FYA right. I would think it would either be a green bike signal w/ FYA right (so the flashing yellow also means to yield to bikes), or red bike signal with green right arrow.

There is a trend in some places to have the FY right arrow on concurrent with the green bike signal as a method of allowing bikes to proceed, even when cars may turn right.  This is done as bikers have complained that the bike signals were too short, so they also wanted the time for right turners as well.

See this video for application in NYC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCvfPUnpaww

In my opinion, it is really unsafe.  The whole purpose of separating the turning movement from the thru bike movement is due to safety, allowing bikes to proceed without worrying about right turners and allowing right turners to proceed without worrying about bikes (due to blind spots, etc.).  Yes, it means that during the green phase, bikes can only proceed at the beginning and right turns can only proceed at the end, but the sacrifice of time is necessary for safety.


Now, it seems, that in the OP's situation, you have a situation where right turns have a completely separate phase from bikes, but not a completely separate phase from pedestrians.  I.e. At the beginning of the phase, cars may proceed forward, peds and bikes may proceed forward, and right turners have a red arrow and must wait.  Then in the middle part of the phase, cars may proceed forward, peds may proceed forward, bikes must wait, and right turners have a flashing yellow arrow to yield to the pedestrians.  Presumably, there is also an end of the phase where cars may proceed forward, peds and bikes must wait, and right turners have a green arrow in order to complete their turn.*

This seems to be better.  Knowing the inherent safety difficulties of allowing right turns and thru bikes at the same time, the signal forbids it.  But it still allows for pedestrians to have increased time to cross durnig the permissive right turn phase.  Right turners yield (FYA) to peds, and not bikes.

* It is also possible that the protected right turn green arrow is concurrent with the side street left turn instead.

I actually believe that it's all context based. Some spots may benefit from protected only phasing, especially when there are a lot of turning vehicles. However, many signals may not have the lane capacity or even need for that. For example, the intersection of Mass/Beech in Cambridge MA has a lot of right hook crashes with bicyclists. Lots of cars turning, and lots of bicycle traffic (150+ bikes per hour in the peak direction in the warmer months). Separated bicycle quick build lanes are now being installed, but a protected right lane and signal wasn't possible. The city instead will be giving bicyclists a 7 second head start over turning traffic, and will show motorists a 5 section doghouse with a FYRA, to reenforce the need to yield. Without that flexibility, it would be very difficult to make that intersection safer. Hope that helps !


iPhone

[MATraveler128]

Here's one in Lexington, MA where MA 4/225 crosses the Minuteman Bikeway.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.4613613,-71.2392576,3a,47.7y,301.04h,90.86t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sO6WKrvIfsrLXySYSWqmwYQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[DrSmith]

In Montreal, a bike signal where the bike lane and ramp traffic cross with the left side ramp switching onto the road.

https://goo.gl/maps/uy9hx9oaEVjV7uxw6

[hotdogPi]

While this one is fairly typical for its location (Central London), I had to take a photo of it. Note the small signal at ground level.

[Amtrakprod]

Here's one in Lexington, MA where MA 4/225 crosses the Minuteman Bikeway.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.4613613,-71.2392576,3a,47.7y,301.04h,90.86t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sO6WKrvIfsrLXySYSWqmwYQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Right in my backyard! (I live in Arlington on the same trail). We have a crossing like that at Lake St. https://youtu.be/jVYG_nCCXk0


iPhone

[on_wisconsin]

Various locations around Campus/ Downtown Madison, WI:

University Ave & Frances St:
https://goo.gl/maps/5bnah1PZscBnk2HY6

N Charter St & Spring:
https://goo.gl/maps/B4SCtn4RkP8SNE5x9

Many more examples exist...

[jamess]

In the op example, I find it interesting that the bike signal is red with a FYA right. I would think it would either be a green bike signal w/ FYA right (so the flashing yellow also means to yield to bikes), or red bike signal with green right arrow.

It's pretty strange, here's a video of it operating; https://youtu.be/ZQQBYXDiHgo


iPhone

The nearside signal is super dumb. Badly located and hard to see. The infrastructure we use for trucks is not what we need for bikes. Should have been a tiny post mounted one like the London example

[Amtrakprod]

In the op example, I find it interesting that the bike signal is red with a FYA right. I would think it would either be a green bike signal w/ FYA right (so the flashing yellow also means to yield to bikes), or red bike signal with green right arrow.

It's pretty strange, here's a video of it operating; https://youtu.be/ZQQBYXDiHgo


iPhone

The nearside signal is super dumb. Badly located and hard to see. The infrastructure we use for trucks is not what we need for bikes. Should have been a tiny post mounted one like the London example

Agreed. More advanced cities are doing that now.


iPhone

[SectorZ]

https://goo.gl/maps/pEmB3QquuhoCJjJH7

This is another one in Newton, MA, this at Beacon and Grant near Chestnut Hill. Since it's a 3-way intersection, Beacon St eastbound has what appears to be a semi-permanent bike green even if Beacon itself is red. GSV pic doesn't show this so you'll have to take my word for it having accessed it over its few years in operation. I presume it turns red for pedestrian crossings.

[1995hoo]

DC has them in various locations. Here's one near the White House; the bikers to whom this signal applies would be using the westbound median bike lane on Pennsylvania Avenue.

[Amtrakprod]

New bicycle signal in Boston. The bike signal is 8" , while the other signals are the standard 12" .


iPhone

[Amtrakprod]

https://goo.gl/maps/pEmB3QquuhoCJjJH7

This is another one in Newton, MA, this at Beacon and Grant near Chestnut Hill. Since it's a 3-way intersection, Beacon St eastbound has what appears to be a semi-permanent bike green even if Beacon itself is red. GSV pic doesn't show this so you'll have to take my word for it having accessed it over its few years in operation. I presume it turns red for pedestrian crossings.

Super cool ! I think FWYDRIVER got a video of it functioning, I'd like to see it soon in person


iPhone

[Amtrakprod]

Another bike signal activated, this one I was involved in the development for. Signal will give a 7 second head start to people biking and walking. In peak hours, there are 7-10 bicycles per cycle in just one direction here. The signal for vehicles will be a 5 section doghouse with a FYA right turn


iPhone