All over Copenhagen these steel bicycle foot rests and hand rails are located strategically near intersections.
But what are they really for?
The design of these steel framed units provide a foot rest or hand hold for about two bicyclists at signal intersections.
At first they might seem unnecessary, or an over the top addition to the infrastructure-
I’ve learned from my tour with professionals that these small infrastructure items are placed to encourage cyclists to stop at intersections and encourage better cycling behavior.
That is, they are placed as a psychological encouragement to take a break at a red light. And, although I would argue that the foot rest bar could probably be lowered about 4” the hand rail bar is at the right height.
When the bicyclist in front of a pack of riders is taking a break the rest of the riders will follow the lead rider.
If the rider in front chooses to run a red light or take off earlier before the change to green-then those behind might follow suite. (featured above-riders here start riding on the red to yellow as it indicates the light is about to change to green)
The riders here (below) are waiting for the person in front to start riding. The foot rest/ hand rest bar then is actually a sociological behavioral mechanism which encourages riders to follow the traffic signals.
In Eugene, I could see these being placed in key high traffic intersections, for example: a long 13th ave or at the 18th and Alder street intersection.