Options exist for protected bike lanes

 Paint is not Protection

"Paint is not protection" is the message from the Red Cup Project.  Some city transportation departments act like plastic wands are the only alternative.  But I've seen lots of physical barriers that seem to work and a major traffic barrier company makes a one foot wide one that appears to be cheap and designed to fit in bikeway buffers.

Yodock 2001SL 1' wide pedestrian channelizer deployed along a bike lane in Oregon

Spaced Barriers

These spaced barriers in Bogotá, Colombia make this cicloruta safe and useful

Advantages of spaced barriers over continuous:

• Cheaper and easier to deploy and move if needed
• Reduce accumulation of debris in bike lane
  
• Allow pullover space for emergency vehicles to pass
  
• Allow bikes to pass obstacles or exit for left turn
  
• Won’t serve as a drunk guide, enabling impaired driving as continuous barriers do.

Bike Barriers around the world - Italy

Contraflow bikeway protected with spaced staple racks, Padova, Italy

Serious spaced protection, Padova, Italy

Great spaced contraflow protection, not thrilled about road surface, Padova, Italy

Barriers Around the World - United States

Nice protection in Baltimore, Maryland c. 2004, but designed to protect horse-drawn carriages

Strategically spaced boulders in Washington state dis-incentivize veering out of lane.

Barriers around the World - China

For this high-speed freeway in Yunnan, China, a continuous barrier makes sense.

Metal barrier in Guangzhou, China