Uni-Directional Protected Lanes

One-way protected bike lanes are at street level and use a variety of methods for physical protection from passing traffic. One-way protected bike lanes may be incorporated into a previous parking lane or other parallel lane, complete with a protective barrier between the bike lane and the motor vehicle travel lane. When a cycle track is elevated above street level, it is called a raised cycle track and different design considerations may apply.

Uni-directional protected lanes have a standard width of 2.2 meters, with 1.7 meters as the bare minimum. Where an adjacent parking lane doesn’t exist, however, the width may go as low as 1.5 meters, but only on low-traffic, low speed streets.

Uni-directional protected lanes separated from car traffic through physical barrier. Graphic by WRI.

Cycling infrastructure, seen here in Shanghai, provides physical separation from motor vehicles through a fence. Photo by Ben Welle / Cities Safer by Design.

A one-way cycle track in Mexico City protects cyclists with physical barriers. Photo by Jason Margolis / Cities Safer by Design.