Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Streetsblog USA

The ‘Peanutabout’ Concept Could Be a Breakthrough for Diagonal Streets

At this irregular intersection in Cambridge, the city plans to improve safety with what the locals call a “peanutabout.” Image via Boston Cyclists Union

pfb logo 100x22
false

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets.

Wickedly good biking ideas continue to pop up in Massachusetts.

Last year, it unveiled the country's best state-level bikeway design guide and Cambridge opened the country's best new bike lane on Western Avenue.

On Tuesday, the Boston Cyclists Union shared the inspiring back story behind a new concept for the long, complex seven-way intersection created by the acute crossing of Cambridge and Hampshire streets. Like a lot of good ideas in modern American bicycling history, it involves Anne Lusk, a Harvard public health professor who's been a major brain behind the spread of protected bike lanes in the United States. Last summer she connected BCU with engineering firm Kittelson and Associates, and dominoes started falling:

In mid-September, Bike Union executive director Becca Wolfson and representatives of Kittelson met with City of Cambridge staff to present our findings regarding the feasibility of the peanut design and the conceptual rendering for it.  The City had considered and rejected as infeasible a roundabout solution for Inman, but had not considered a peanut-style mini-roundabout.  The staff were favorably impressed and have since indicated an interest in including this roundabout approach alongside the “Bends” solutions as the pubic process moves forward.

In his post, BCU writer Steven Bercu lists the various advantages of this design for people walking, biking and driving. Here are the benefits for bicycle travel:

Bicycles can move through the Square with minimal or no stopping and minimized deflection.

By elevating the cycle tracks and using European-style protected crossings, those traveling by bicycle will be much more visible to drivers; oblique or unexpected crossing angles are completely eliminated.

It gives Cambridge the chance to be a leader and innovator by installing a first-in-the-nation roundabout with protected bike lanes — something we have yet to see implemented in the U.S.!

That's true: though the country has a handful of protected intersections, all use the right-angle design, usually with a stoplight, that's standard in the U.S. (That's likely to change soon with or without Cambridge, though -- keep your eyes on Carmel, Indiana.)

Whether or not the "peanutabout" turns out to be right for this particular intersection, diagonal streets are common in U.S. cities. This looks like a tool that deserves to be on the country's belt.

You can follow The Green Lane Project on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook or sign up for its weekly news digest about protected bike lanes.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

July 2024 Metro Board Meeting: Ridership Up, Security Measures, LAX, and More

LAX station will open this November. Metro will expand security measures, from TAP-to-Exit to turnstile hardening. Plus more Metro action!

July 25, 2024

Covina to Begin Construction on Recreation Village

The new facility will be next to the Metrolink station and include a variety of opportunities for fitness and amusement

July 25, 2024

Incomplete Streets Part 2: in OC Caltrans Ignores Caltrans Policy on Bike and Pedestrian Needs

Caltrans has a policy requiring Complete Streets in its projects, but Caltrans Districts routinely ignore it

July 24, 2024
See all posts