The City of Waterloo is rethinking bicycle transportation by painting its first quarter-mile stretch of bike lanes green, while moving them away from the curb to help cyclist visibility and traffic flow.

Kyle Durant, a transportation planner with the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments, helped implement the changes. Durant says the previous lanes were dangerous for the city’s cyclists.

“Bike lanes were up against the curb, then there was parking, and then there was a travel lane,” Durant says. “That’s also where some of the poorer pavement conditions are, up along the curb, and that’s where debris gets pushed off to the side.”

Durant says shifting the lanes clears up confusion and safety concerns for the city’s cyclists.

“Users were confused about the layout,” he says, “and also riding along the curb, they were concerned about slippage and wiping out.”

Cedar Rapids and Des Moines have similar green-painted bike lanes for better cyclist visibility and safety.

(By Grant Winterer, Iowa Public Radio)

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