Keeping Safe During Road Construction

Copenhagenize.com has a great post about how Copenhagen deals with cycling infrastructure when work of any kind could impact safe passage. In short, the city prioritizes bikes, whenever possible. With so many bikes being used for transportation, blocking bike lanes and cycle paths would cause major inconvenience as well as safety problems. Routes get re-routed and trucks aren't allowed to block the lane. It all comes down to priorities:

This maintenance truck is blocking a car lane but NOT the bike lane.

"At all times, prioritising bicycle traffic is of the utmost importance. A city must send concrete signals that it takes bicycle traffic seriously. Cycling citizens need a city that is reliable in its maintenance and prioritisation of bicycles. If they can count on their infrastructure being taken care of, it will encourage them to ride. If trains, for example, are unreliable, fewer people will use them and look to other modes. The same applies to bicycle traffic. Rain or snow. Roadworks or smooth sailing. 24-7."

Does anyone know what Bellingham's rules are regarding keeping bike lanes open? I wonder every time I go past Whatcom Middle School and see Halleck St. completely blocked between D St and F St due to construction on the school, even though Halleck normally has quite a bit of bike traffic.