# How wide should a bike lane be?

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2023-09-11

bike-lane-width, bike-lanes, bike-width, cycling, cycling-infrastructure, design, dutch-cycling, environment, mobility, planning

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The Dutch now believe that [the number is 230cm](https://dutchcycling.nl/knowledge/blogs-by-experts/crow-updates-bike-lane-width-recommendations/). This is an increase from a previous recommendation of 200cm. The thinking behind this number is roughly as follows. Apparently there are Dutch laws stipulating that [bikes can't be wider than 75cm](https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/how-wide-is-a-dutch-cycle-path/#:~:text=Under%20Dutch%20law%20the%20maximum,centimetres%20\(roughly%2030%20inches\).). So this is the starting point.

But since it's impossible to always ride in a perfectly straight line, there seems to be a generally accepted rule that, at an absolute minimum, cyclists need about 100cm of width to themselves.

If you now double this so that two people can ride side-by-side, you're at 200cm. This is an important design criteria because the [Dutch also seem to believe](https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/how-wide-is-a-dutch-cycle-path/) that (1) cycling is a social activity and (2) a child should be able to ride beside their parent. (Love this!)

Finally, add in a bit of buffer so there's room to pass slower cyclists and/or nobody feels like they're going to crash into oncoming cyclists, and you get to 230cm as the ideal width of a single bike lane.

I'm not sure I had given this much thought before, so I look forward to scrutinizing (and possibly measuring) every bike lane I ride in going forward.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/how-wide-should-a-bike-lane-be)*