The U.S. Department of Transportation hosted two Bicycle Safety Summits in April — one in Tampa and one in Minneapolis. Each summit brought together Federal, state and local officials, planners, designers, engineers, law enforcement, safety experts and others throughout the bicycle community to identify innovative ideas for improving bicycle safety in across the country.

At the second Bike Safety Summit held Monday in Minneapolis, Green Lane Project director Martha Roskowski presented about the impact protected, on-street bike facilities can have on safety, comfort and appeal for people of all ages and abilities who ride bikes.

Although Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood was unable to attend the Summit (he was in DC helping to introduce incoming Secretary Anthony Foxx), he sent in a special video greeting shown to all attendees praising green lanes.

“Cyclists are riding along protected lanes marked with green paint and separated routes with differentiated bike signals,” LaHood said on his blog, FastLane. “These steps make bikes easier to see, helping avoid conflicts and reduce accidents.”

Read more about LaHood’s thoughts on bicycle safety on FastLane.