The intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and 16th and U Streets NW, one of the city’s busiest, has always been one of the more difficult traffic situations for Washingtonian cyclists to traverse. Often times, those on bikes (not to mention pedestrians) find themselves in the difficult position of having to break the law in order to safely navigate around the three-way confluence. Police had even set up traps to ticket cyclists who rode northeast up New Hampshire Avenue NW between T and U Streets, a one-way thoroughfare.

But with the introduction of new contraflow bike lanes, unveiled this week, such issues could be a thing of the past.