Austin, Salt Lake City, Davis, Calif., and Boston creating first protected intersections in U.S.

The cities of Austin, Texas, Salt Lake City, Davis, Calif., and Boston are in a four-way race to create the first protected intersection in the United States.

Protected intersections arrange traffic so that everyone—bicyclists included—can see all moving traffic simply by looking forward instead of forcing people in cars and on bikes to look constantly over their shoulders. The concept has been used successfully for years in The Netherlands.

The action by the four U.S. cities comes 15 months after American bikeway designer Nick Falbo coined the phrase “protected intersection” to refer to a Dutch-style intersection between two streets with protected bike lanes.