Open Your Eyes, Bill

Does anyone know where the New York Times reporter William Yardley lives? If it’s in New York City, I question his observational skills.

Yesterday he penned an article for the paper of record (which was then picked up on NY1 news that morning, which is where I first heard of this story, while I was groggily brushing my teeth) on new measures to improve bicycle safety in Portland, Oregon.

I perked up rather quickly when I heard this “news” because we ran almost the very same story a year and a half ago, in our summer 2006 issue, written by Yardley’s fellow NYT contributor and Portland resident, Linda Baker. Click here for our story.

But that’s hardly the point here. Bike boxes are the point.

For those who don’t know what bike boxes are, here’s an explanatory excerpt from Yardley’s story:

“This spring, at [traffic intersections] across the city, “bike boxes” will be laid out on the roadway to provide a clearly designated place for cyclists, in front of and in full view of drivers, to wait for traffic lights to change. The boxes will be marked with signs and wide stripes alerting drivers to stop behind them at red lights.

… the boxes, believed to be the first such to be put to use by any city in the country, will make cyclists even safer and more comfortable on the street, biking advocates and transportation officials say.”

The New York Times ran a lovely info graphic showing exactly how these wildly innovative “bike boxes” will work.

Well done, gentlemen.

Now next time you cross the street in Manhattan—where you work everyday—take a look at the pavement beneath your feet. You might happen to notice that these new-fangled bike boxes already exist in New York City.

Streetsblog.org blogged about them on June 19, 2007, just after they were laid down in New York. There’s even a very cool photo of bike boxes at work taken next to Citarella in the West Village, where I live.

UPDATE: Check this out. It's a "how to use bike boxes" video on streetfilms.org, posted on January 9. The accompanying text cites 60 as the current number of bike boxes on New York City streets.

Has anyone else noticed these things?