Before…

…After

Back in April, we told you about how awareness cones were actually making a small difference at 20th and Market in Philadelphia. For too long, cars pulling into the tiny Trader Joe’s parking lot in Center City were blocking the bike lane along that street, making the conditions dangerous and largely unpassable for cyclists, and while we had limited resources to fix that particular problem, we did what we could to work with the grocery store and police to stop it from happening.

Well, we spoke to the management of the grocery store in April, and they agreed to begin putting awareness cones between the bike lane and motor vehicle lane to better keep cars out of the lane while waiting to get into the parking lot. Trader Joe’s agreed to put the cones out on the weekends and Mondays—their busiest days.

This is a very, very temporary solution, to be fair. Twentieth Street should at least have bollards on it, keeping cars out of the bike lanes for good. Additional changes to the streets, like a physically protected lane with concrete, or switching the cars and the bike lane, would take a city ordinance. Even with the cones, we’ve received complaints of cars continuing to act recklessly and pull into the bike lane.

It’s not perfect, but Trader Joe’s is trying.

Anyway, after meeting with Trader Joe’s and the police in the spring, we found ourselves at our storage unit, staring hundreds of those orange cones triangularly in the face.

So, to make sure they don’t run out of cones, our staff dropped off a lot of cones at Trader Joe’s the other day. Here they are, along with TJ Captain Rana, who accepted the new awareness cones with an enthusiastic thumbs up. And pointing at her new prized possessions.

And remember: If you see any bike lanes blocked, you can call the police and let them know about it. Or take a picture and use the hashtag #unblockbikelanes on social media. Look for more information on the Unblock Bike Lanes campaign in the media soon.