The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) works to promote innovative bikeway designs among major American urban cities in ways that State Departments of Transportation fall short in doing. Cities like Portland, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Minneapolis are taking the lead. In 2012, the 2nd edition of their Urban Bicycle Design Guide came out and it sure has a lot of great bikeway designs in it. Here are some of the Guide’s impressive new bike tools: 
Buffered Bike Lanes Buffered bike lanes are conventional bike lanes paired with a designated painted buffer space separating the bicycle lane from the adjacent motor vehicle travel lane and/or parking lane
Advance Bike Box An advance bike box is a designated area at a signalized intersection that provides bicyclists with a safe and visible way to get ahead of queuing traffic during the red signal phase. It greatly facilitates left turns by bicyclists
Cycle tracks One-way and two-way protected cycle tracks are physically separated, protected bike lanes that allow for safe bicycling on the side of busy roads. They are buffered by car parking, curbs or other physical barriers to enhance safety. Learn about several cycle track projects in the East Bay.
Queue Boxes Two-stage turn queue boxes offer bicyclists a safe way make left turns at multi-lane signalized intersections from a right side cycle track or bike lane. Queue boxes can also greatly facilitate safe left turns on busy streets of Oakland
Green Paint in Conflict Zones Colored pavement within a bike lane or thru an intersection increases the visibility of the bike space, identifies potential areas of conflict to both motorists and bicyclists, and reinforces priority to bicyclists in conflict areas with turning movements.