Author Archives: jsallen

About jsallen

John S. Allen is the author or co-author of numerous publications about bicycling including Bicycling Street Smarts, which has been adopted as the bicycle driver's manual in several US states. He has been active with the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition since 1978 and served as a member of the board of Directors of the League of American Bicyclists from 2003 through 2009.

Technical and legal issues with the NYC 9th Avenue bikeway

Posted on March 4, 2009 by jsallen

If bicyclists traveling on the bikeway in the intended direction (same as motor traffic on 9th Avenue) merge into the left-turn lane to the right of the bikeway, they interact only with left-turning motor vehicles. Then the bicyclists can proceed for as much of the signal cycle as through-traveling motorists, and left-turning bicyclists can proceed for longer than left-turning motorists. The equal or longer, possible time for bicyclists to proceed is unusual and interesting. Continue reading →

Posted in Sidepaths | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Guest posting: John Ciccarelli on the NYC Broadway bikeway

Posted on March 4, 2009 by jsallen

“The city has removed one or two travel lanes and created an in-street pedestrian “plaza”, completed with a right-side fence-and-planter barrier, cafe tables, chairs and benches. It’s truly a bold stroke in taking back the street for living, and it was immediately and hugely popular with residents and visitors, but it creates horrendous pedestrian cross-flow issues for the bikeway that runs between it and the sidewalk.” Continue reading →

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Guest posting: John Ciccarelli on the NYC 9th Avenue bikeway

Posted on March 4, 2009 by jsallen

I consider the 9th Avenue bikeway to be “proper” engineering in the small (i.e. purely technical sense) but not in the larger (public stewardship) sense that considers the legal framework that governs a street’s function for all users. Continue reading →

Posted in Sidepaths | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Comparing crosswalk and bike box

Posted on February 21, 2009 by jsallen

Let’s just get it straight: bike boxes as commonly understood and implemented are a “buzzword” facility whose popularity is based on misconceptions, and which flies in the face of any common understanding of how to achieve traffic safety. Continue reading →

Posted in Bicycle facilities, Bike box | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Brief Review of book, Bicycling and the Law

Posted on February 19, 2009 by jsallen

All in all, I can recommend this book as a reference on laws of importance to bicyclists, but when technical issues arise, a bicyclist and the bicyclist’s lawyer may need the assistance of a technical expert – as does the author. Continue reading →

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Portland, Oregon HAWK Beacon

Posted on February 13, 2009 by jsallen

A HAWK beacon installation at 41st and East Burnside Avenue in Portland, Oregon, is unusual, as it applies to bicyclists, not only pedestrians This posting describes the Portlan HAWK beacon installation and makes recommendations for improvements. Continue reading →

Posted in Bicycle facilities | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Hawthorne Bridge discussion gets thorny

Posted on November 9, 2008 by jsallen

Riding a bicycle on a sidewalk is rarely a better choice than riding in the street, but it is better on the Hawthorne bridge in Portland, Oregon, which has a narrow roadway with a treacherous steel-grid deck. I first rode … Continue reading →

Posted in Bicycle facilities, Cycle tracks, Sidepaths | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Don’t be the dancing bear

Posted on October 16, 2008 by jsallen

The dancing-bear experiment cleverly misleads the viewer, concealing the bear (see comments at end of this posting), but the experimentis misleading on another level too, in suggesting that such concealment is the norm and in conveying a fatalistic message.. Continue reading →

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Bike box rationales

Posted on September 22, 2008 by jsallen

On another Web page, I have discussed the features and operational characteristics of so-called “bike boxes”, in which bicyclists wait for traffic signals ahead of the stop line for motor traffic. I recommend that page as background information for this … Continue reading →

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Idaho special bicycle laws

Posted on September 20, 2008 by jsallen

Idaho law allows cyclists to treat a stop sign as a yield sign. See https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title49/t49ch7/sect49-720/ It also allows a bicyclist to treat a traffic signal as a stop sign. I would support the traffic signal aspect of this law as … Continue reading →

Posted in Bicycling, Laws | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments