A cyclists waits for the light to change in the newly constructed bike box at the corner of Northeast 7th Avenue and Northeast Hawthorne Street.

PORTLAND, Ore. - The first of 15 "bike boxes" appeared at the corner of Southeast 7th Avenue and Southeast Hawthorne Street in Portland on Monday.

City crews blocked off a lane of traffic at the intersection and installed green panels and broad white stripes on the street. Lettering tells motorists to "wait here" behind the green section that is reserved for cyclists.

Transportation officials are hoping the bike boxes will help end right-turn collisions like those that took the lives of two cyclists in Portland last year. In all, six cyclists were killed in collisions with cars in Portland in 2007.

It is illegal for motorists to turn right on a red light at intersections with the bike boxes. Police say there will be a two-week caution period where they will give warnings to drivers that violate the box areas.

After that, they will begin issuing citations.

Cyclists can turn right on red from the boxes and can wait for the light to change while in the green area.

Cars must wait behind the green section even if cyclists are not present since bike riders can approach the box area using bike lanes while car traffic is stopped for a red light.

Each bike box costs about $2,000 for the city to install.

"You want to make your design as understandable as possible," Roger Geller of the Portland Department of Transportation said as he watched the first bike box take shape. Geller was on a bicycle at the time.

In 2007, a teenage art student and an employee of a local bicycle shop were both killed when trucks turned right at intersections, crushing the cyclists.

In both incidents, the truck drivers said they could not see the cyclists.

Portland transportation officials said they hoped the bike boxes would help eliminate that type of accident.