An Architecture Critic Lists 7 Reasons Bike Lanes Benefit All Road Users

Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Inga Saffron has penned a detailed argument in favor of bike lanes.

Saffron's reason to support bike lanes are seven, and they benefit all users of the street—motorists, bike riders, and pedestrians. Here are the seven items on the list, with lots more evidence to back up these claims, written in prize-winning form:

1. Safety increases when everyone knows their place.
2. Bike lanes reduce automobile congestion. 
3. Bike lanes are a traffic-calming tool.
4. Bicycles are better for the environment.
5. Bicycling is good for your health.
6. Bike lanes help buffer pedestrians from speeding cars.
7. Bike lanes are not just for bikes.

Bike commuters won't like that last point on the list (Flickr user Phila. Bikes has a whole gallery devoted to UPS trucks parked in bike lanes, for instance), but still, it's rare to see a columnist of a major daily newspaper arguing in support of bike infrastructure, though this is the second time this week.