There’s a reason Jamestown residents were gobsmacked when green areas started to show up on Washington Street last week.

No one had any notice they were coming.

People heard a lot about Washington Street’s change from four lanes to three with the addition of bike lanes in the remaining space. If the bike boxes were mentioned they were a mere afterthought even in the state DOT’s news releases on the $4.7 million project. There were certainly no public education efforts to prepare drivers or cyclists how to use the boxes properly. There were many who were already unhappy with the Washington Street project. The unannounced change won’t help that. In the future the state DOT really should be more clear about such additions rather than springing them upon an unsuspecting populace. And if the DOT isn’t clear, city officials should be. There is a City Council Public Safety Committee and regular council work sessions where announcements and presentations can be made. The city spent good money on a text alert system that could have been used in this instance, and media partners would have been more than willing to get the word out before green paint reached the asphalt on Washington Street.

The state and city dropped the ball.

Bike boxes are here, so drivers had better get used to them. Here’s the good news.

The most confusing part of the bike boxes for drivers is the area where cyclists can turn left across Washington Street. It would have been a ridiculous mess if the left turn bike boxes came on intersections without an existing left turn arrow for vehicles. That won’t be the case. Left turn bike boxes are located only where there are already left turn arrows. The only real questions to be resolved are whether the bike boxes are heavily used and, if they are, if the duration of the left turn arrows needs to be extended to move both bicycles and vehicles through the intersection safely during peak traffic times. It’s a situation that bears monitoring and, if necessary, the state should move quickly to change the timing of the traffic lights.

Studies have shown bike boxes can help cyclists move more safely through high-traffic vehicular intersections. We don’t doubt the veracity of those studies or the fact that bike boxes will make cycling in Jamestown easier. One way to have made the transition easier would have been to announce the change and direct drivers and cyclists to areas to learn more about bike boxes rather than have people on their way to work wondering what the green boxes in the road are supposed to accomplish.