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Have you ever seen a bike rider who can balance at a red light without putting a foot down? Well, you don’t have to worry that you’re not that cool – just use a bike lean rail!

Seattle is one of the first cities in the US (along with Chicago) to give bicyclists resting spots using bike lean rails. We have them all along 2nd Avenue for our new protected bike lane as part of the 2nd Ave Mobility Project.

We installed our first set of bike lean rails back in 2015 on the Burke-Gilman Trail at NE Blakeley St. At this spot, the rails are set slightly back from the intersection where they help cut down on the “crowding at the front” of the trail by bicyclists waiting to go after pedestrians cross. The rails work well at this popular biking location.

You can also find bike lean rails on 7th Avenue:

The planters and rails on we use on 2nd Avenue are made by DezignLine from Minneapolis. For now, we are testing out these fairly new bike lean rails to see how they do – you might see more of them soon!