The City has received a number of questions about the green paint bike lanes on Citrus and Brookside avenues. The following information may be of interest.

Green lanes have been completed or will be installed at Citrus Avenue between University Street and Redlands Boulevard and at Brookside Avenue between Eureka Street and San Mateo Street

The green color was chosen because it is the industry standard as it visually displays the distinction between the bike lane and drive lane.

Green lanes are being painted at these locations because they provide a clear visual delineation for both bikers and drivers of the presence of the bike lane. In particular, the green bike lanes on Citrus Avenue are an important visual cue due to the proximity of the bike lanes to Redlands High School. More specifically, these two segments of road have been identified as two of busiest roads within the city in terms of average daily traffic. Citrus Avenue has approximately 14,000 average daily trips (ADT) where the lanes are located and Brookside has approximately 12,700 ADT. For comparison, the average road segment in the City has an ADT of 2,646. Because the amount of vehicular traffic on these roads is greater than most other roads in Redlands, providing a visual cue greater than just a white bike lane became necessary.

Additionally, since the bike lanes were placed on Brookside last year, staff has observed vehicular traffic driving within the bike lanes, creating a need for a greater visual enhancement to remind drivers of the presence of the bike lane. Through research, staff was able to determine the extra step of adding green paint in bike lanes resulted in a decline of injury crashes for all road users by 40-50% in New York City (http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/pdf/bike_lanes_memo.pdf) and that the usage of green lanes can reduce bicyclist injury up to 90% (http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300762?journalCode=ajph&).