Sometimes a City Just Needs to Take the Plunge

Rows of toilet plungers appeared Monday along bike lane lines near an Aksarben neighborhood intersection that has been the scene of multiple accidents between cars.

A group of bicycling advocates glued 120 plungers onto 63rd Street north of Shirley Street about 10:30 a.m. The plungers stayed up long enough to make a social media splash, until the City Public Works Department removed them about four hours later as road obstructions.

One of the advocates, Stuart Nottingham, said he and seven fellow cyclists stuck the reflective tape-wrapped plungers to painted bike lane lines to demonstrate that protected bike lanes would slow traffic and make the street safer for everybody who uses it.

“The plan was to leave them out for 36 hours so people could see what a protected bike lane could do,” Nottingham said.

Such lanes use some sort of barrier, such as posts, curbs or planters, to separate cars and bikes. They’ve been appearing across the country, including in Lincoln, but not yet in Omaha.

Full article:

http://www.omaha.com/livewellnebraska/group-glues-toilet-plungers-o...