This year I started to notice I was able to bike to work without fear of dying, one of the great marks of a modern metropolis. That’s in part due to the wonderful new bike lanes Seattle has been installing—big, bright-green things that auto drivers can easily spot even if they are busy texting their friends about how much they hate bicyclists. Seattle also installed a snazzy protected bike lane on Broadway lined with strange blue sculptures that look like Smurf poop. Soon, protected bike lanes like this will line Second Avenue, Fourth Avenue, Seventh Avenue, and 23rd Avenue. Thank you, future/present Smurf poop, for making my commute infinitely safer.

Read all of our picks for People & Places, and explore the rest of this year’s edition of Best of Seattle.