Garden lane by sungun chang from usa

Most common method to add bicycle lanes is to draw a paint strip and sign on existing asphalt road to indicate bicycle lane. This approach is dangerous because painted boundary lacks clear visibility and creates confusion for both drivers and cyclists. Although installing physical barrier seems to solve the safety issue, it also has two main problems: high cost and its aesthetic. This process uses up new raw material, requires major road construction and makes urban scene oppressive and less humane. Often times, the physical barrier takes up the valuable space in already crowded road.

The “Garden lane” is a design solution that would improve the safety for cyclists and provide beauty in urban environment with eco friendly theme and aesthetic. The process of making “garden lane” is a subtractive and natural. Instead of introducing new artificial object such as paint or metal bar to make a bicycle lane boundary, we create a uniform lined crack on the asphalt road along the boundary of bicycle lane and fill the space with ground soil and seeds of wild weeds that can grow in local weather. The plants would grow naturally over time on their own from this cracked asphalt and act as a physical indicator for bicycle lanes, making the “Garden lane” sustainable. Also, the width of the crack does not require more than 3 inches of space, allowing preexisting road to install the “Garden lane” without any need of major road reconstruction for expansion. The “Garden lane” has advantage over any other artificial barrier due to its highly sustainable, cost effective and space saving design.

In practice, the Garden lane’s clear visual boundary created by plants’ vibrant colors and their vertical orientation on flat road surface would provide strong physical presence that insures safety of cyclists. Also, because automobile drivers would be aware of the fact that they would trample over and surely kill these beautiful living plants if they carelessly drive and step over the boundary of “garden lane”, these lines of plants would act as a psychological barrier that encourage drivers to treat the boundary of bicycle lane with greater respect.

The Garden lane's incorporation of plants as a practical solution would symbolize and promote symbiotic relationship between human and nature.