Ayres Knowledge Center Using Bike Boxes to Increase Visibility and Safety | Page 8

EDUCATION
Bike boxes may present a new traffic control treatment
that not all bicyclists or motorists are familiar with. Local
communities may choose to partner with professional
organizations, as Wauwatosa did, to create special events
geared toward educating the public on the purpose and
use of bike boxes.
The 2014 project on Wauwatosa’s East North Avenue
benefited from a special grand opening event organized
by the East Tosa Alliance, a local non-profit community
organization that actively advocated for and assisted in
the public outreach for the project, and the Association of
Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals. The event brought
local officials and residents to the street to celebrate and
educate by holding a bike parade and learning charrette
where bicyclists were taught how to appropriately use the
bike boxes at the North Avenue/68th Street intersection.
Other organizations, such as The Wisconsin Bike Fed,
which describes itself as the largest statewide bicycle
organization in the United States, hold “open streets”
events in cities throughout the state promoting bicycling
as an active form of transportation and advocating the
How to Use a Bike Box
implementation of new bicycle traffic control treatments,
such as bike boxes. The events also teach users the correct
ways to navigate these new traffic features.
Adequate and appropriate signage is necessary to educate
the traveling public on the correct usage of bike boxes.
It’s important to make the signage as easy to understand
as possible, as the bicyclist and motorist must be able to
quickly understand how to adhere to this new form of
traffic control while also processing information about
other regulatory factors that may exist at the intersection.