'Paint Is Not Enough': Red Cup Project Shines Light On Bike Lane Dangers

BOSTON (CBS) -- They call it the Red Cup Project. It is a day of remembrance and action for cyclists here in the Boston area and across the country. They are remembering a bicyclist who was killed in Washington just last weekend, and they're taking action by calling for more and safer bike lanes. And it's the red cups that are making a dramatic point.

We connected with Galen Mook, the executive director of the Mass Bicycle Coalition. He placed red plastic cups filled with water on the faded white lines of the bike lane on Harvard Ave. in Allston as part of the Red Cup Project.

"I'll come back in a bit and see how many of these are run over," he said.

He didn't have to wait long as a car moved into the bike lane and flattened a cup. That wasn't the only time. The scene was repeated throughout the area as people placed the cups in Porter Square, Cambridge, on Mass Ave. in Boston and on Beacon St. in Newton.

"Paint is not enough. We need to ask for more from our city if we're to have safe infrastructure that's going to keep people safe on the roads," Mook said.

Many cyclists want protected bike lanes like the ones on Western Ave. in Cambridge. They're separated from traffic to the right of the parked cars.

"It's going to take redesigning the infrastructure which will be a monetary concern. If the goal is to reduce congestion and reduce greenhouse gasses, you really need to step it up with the funding and the political will," according to Mook.

Cyclists in a number of other cities across the country also participated in the Red Cup Project including New York and Denver.