Separated bike lanes

adams-street
Originally uploaded by volcrano

Flickr photo by volcrano who writes:

NYC DOT continues to roll out more high-visibility bike lanes in downtown Brooklyn. The latest lanes to go green are on Adams Street on the approach to the Brooklyn Bridge. These lanes have been painted green and a striped buffer has been installed to give cyclists a bit more space between the bike lane and moving traffic. We will be monitoring these lanes to determine their effectiveness.

I am starting to come around more on the side in favor of separated bike lanes. I think we have to think of this issue in terms of various segments of potential riders. Certain segments are not likely to ride because of their justifiable fear of being in the same lane of traffic with cars. Rather than tell them they should ride kamikaze like me, I think we need to think more about the end goal, which is expansion of the use of bicycles as a legitimate form of transportation.