Shared lane marking
A shared-lane marking or sharrow[1] is a street marking installed at locations in Australia, Canada, and the United States. This marking is placed in the center of a travel lane to indicate that a bicyclist may use the full lane.
According to the US Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, shared-lane markings are used to:
- Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in a shared lane with on-street parallel parking in order to reduce the chance of a bicyclist’s impacting the open door of a parked vehicle;
- Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in lanes that are too narrow for a motor vehicle and a bicycle to travel side by side within the same traffic lane;
- Alert motorists of the lateral location bicyclists are likely to occupy within the traveled way;
- Encourage safe passing of bicyclists by motorists; and
- Reduce the incidence of wrong-way bicycling.[2]
The name sharrow was coined by Oliver Gajda, of the City and County of San Francisco Bicycle Program, and is a portmanteau of share and arrow.[3]
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History [edit]
These markings are used in the USA, Australia and other countries. In US usage, the wide shape of the arrow, combined with the bike symbol, gave rise to unofficial names such as "bike in a house" or "sharrow". In the UK roughly the same function is served by a bicycle symbol without arrows. However this tends to be used more as an indication of a formal cycle route rather than as an encouragment to share the road.
The original "bike in a house" or "man jumping barrels at home" marking was developed by James Mackay and included in the 1993 Denver Bicycle Master Plan.[4] While Mackay had considered a "connect the dots" pavement markings approach for bicycle route definition and lane positioning reinforcement for bicyclists earlier when he was the Bicycle Facilities Engineer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the City of Denver's unwillingness to commit to bike lane markings meant that shared lane markings were the only pavement marking treatment for bicyclists that the City would implement. The hollow arrow surrounding the bicyclist was intended to reinforce the correct direction of travel for bicyclists (who were frequently observed riding the wrong-way, against traffic, in Denver).[5]
In 2004, the city of San Francisco, California began experimenting with the shared lane marking,[6] and developed a revised symbol consisting of a bicycle symbol with two chevron markings above the bicycle.
Effectiveness [edit]
Behavioral studies have shown that streets with shared lane arrows have increases separation between motor vehicles and bicyclists, encourage cyclists to ride outside the door zone, may reduce wrong-way cycling, and sidewalk cycling, which is associated with increased crash risk, is reduced.[7][8]
However, another study based on hospital records shows no statistically significant reduction in injuries, and possibly a small increase.[9]
Since the implementation of sharrows usually precludes safer safety treatments such as cycle tracks or bicycle lanes,[citation needed] sharrows give cyclists few options other than operating in the door zone.[citation needed] Thus the use of sharrows reduces the choices that cyclists have in choosing whether to ride on dedicated infrastructure or in the middle of the road.[citation needed]
Usage [edit]
USA [edit]
Based on the San Francisco experimental data, in August 2004 the California Traffic Control Devices Committee (CTCDC) approved the use of this marking in the State of California.[10]
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In the 2009 edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, shared lane markings were approved for general use.[11] They have been used in a number of cites, including:[12]
- Albany, New York [13]
- Ann Arbor, Michigan[citation needed]
- Arlington, Virginia[14]
- Arvada, Colorado[citation needed]
- Atlanta, Georgia[citation needed]
- Austin, Texas[citation needed]
- Bellevue, Washington[citation needed]
- Bethlehem, Pennsylvania[citation needed]
- Bloomington, Indiana[citation needed]
- Chicago, Illinois[citation needed]
- Boston, Massachusetts[citation needed]
- Buffalo, New York [15]
- Cary, North Carolina [16]
- Cleveland, Ohio[citation needed]
- Columbus, Ohio[citation needed]
- Davis, California [17]
- Dayton, Ohio[citation needed]
- Denver, Colorado
- Fargo, North Dakota [18]
- Flagstaff, Arizona[citation needed]
- Fort Collins, Colorado[citation needed]
- Fort Wayne, Indiana[citation needed]
- Grand Rapids, Michigan[citation needed]
- Greenville, South Carolina[citation needed]
- Houston, Texas[19]
- Ithaca, New York[citation needed]
- Lincoln, Nebraska [20]
- Long Beach, California[citation needed]
- Los Angeles, California [21]
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Memphis, Tennessee[22]
- Miami Beach, Florida[citation needed]
- Miami, Florida[citation needed]
- Minneapolis Minnesota [23]
- New Brunswick, New Jersey [24]
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Oakland, California [25]
- Omaha, Nebraska[26]
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania[citation needed]
- Portland, Oregon[citation needed]
- Raleigh, North Carolina [16]
- Richmond, Virginia[27]
- Salt Lake City, Utah[citation needed]
- San Diego started using sharrows in 2012.[28]
- Santa Monica, California[citation needed]
- Sheboygan, Wisconsin[citation needed]
- Spartanburg, South Carolina[citation needed]
- St. Louis, Missouri[citation needed]
- Washington, District of Columbia [29]
Some US jurisdictions installed this marking before they were officially adopted without participating in US federally approved experiments. There is a concern that the shared lane markings installed in some of these locations are not consistent with current regulations on marking design and positioning.
The city of Seattle, Washington included extensive use of shared lane markings in its Bicycle Master Plan of early 2007.[30]
Canada [edit]
- Edmonton has begun to install shared-lane markings on several streets in 2009[citation needed].
- Hamilton began installing sharrows in 2010
- Moncton has begun using shared-lane markings in 2010[citation needed].
- Montreal has had shared-lane markings on paths into and out of the downtown core, since 2006.[31] Many indicate a path of travel inconsistent with the intent of the shared-lane marking.[32][33]
- Saskatoon installed shared-lane markings on most of its downtown streets in 2009[citation needed].
- St. Catharines (Ontario) has upgraded several major streets (Scott Street, Geneva Street) and the downtown core with sharrows as of 2009[citation needed].
- Toronto (Ontario) also features "sharrows" on several streets[citation needed].
- Vancouver has sharrows on some streets, in addition to separated bike lanes.[34]
- Victoria, BC — In July 2009, "activist" cyclists calling themselves the Other Urban Repair Squad twice painted markings on congested Hillside Avenue but the City of Victoria immediately dispatched crews to cover the markings with gray paint.[35][36]
- Winnipeg has begun to use shared-lane markings since 2008 Template:Citation neededes.
- Fredericton has begun to use shared-lane markings since 2012[citation needed].
Spain [edit]
Australia [edit]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ 23rd Streetscape Project, City of Richmond website, access date December 28, 2008
- ^ Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, Part 9, Traffic Control for Bicycle Facilities, 2009, [1]
- ^ San Francisco Bay Bikers blog entry on San Francisco Chronicle site
- ^ 1993 Denver, Colorado Bicycle Plan
- ^ e-mail from James Mackay to John S. Allen, May 21, 2011
- ^ "San Francisco's Shared Lane Pavement Markings: Improving Bicycle Safety", February 2004
- ^ "Evaluation of Shared Lane Markings". Federal Highway Administration. October 2010. Retrieved Feb 27, 2013.
- ^ Alta Planning and Design (February 2004). "San Francisco's Shared Lane Pavement Markings: Improving Bicycle Safety". San Francisco Department of Parking & Traffic. Retrieved Feb 27, 2013.
- ^ "Comparing the effects of infrastructure on bicycling injury at intersections and non-intersections using a case–crossover design". 14 December 2012.
- ^ CTCDC Minutes, August 12, 2004
- ^ "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, Chapter 9". Federal Highway Administration. 2009.
- ^ ATSSA webpage on MUTCD experimentation & interpretation letters
- ^ "Albany riding high on cyclist list". Albany Times Union. December 30, 2012. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
- ^ http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/biking-in-arlington/sharrows/ Arlington Sharrows, Apr 2012
- ^ [2] Buffalo Rising blog, October 2011
- ^ a b Ride this way! Sharrows popping up in Raleigh and Cary! GoTriangle blog, July 2010
- ^ [3]
- ^ Fargo becoming more bike friendly, WDAY News, 9/15/2011
- ^ [4]
- ^ InterLinc: Shared Lane Project
- ^ City of Los Angeles, SLM Study, July 2011
- ^ City of Memphis Public Service Announcement. Memphis, TN: City of Memphis. May 14, 2012.
- ^ City of Minneapolis, Request to Experiment, July 2010
- ^ http://thecityofnewbrunswick.org/planninganddevelopment/bike-lanes-2/
- ^ Bikeway Types, City of Oakland
- ^ Omaha Bikes Sharrow Alert
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ http://ddot.dc.gov/DC/DDOT/On+Your+Street/Bicycles+and+Pedestrians/Bicycles/Bicycle+Lanes DDOT Bicycle Lanes, Apr 2012
- ^ "Two more weeks to comment on city bike plan", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 4, 2007
- ^ Christopher deWolf. "Follow the sharrows." Spacing Montreal, August 29, 2007
- ^ Shared-lane markings on the Rue St. Urbain in Montreal
- ^ Shared-lane marking on the Avenue Lionel-Groulx in Montreal
- ^ "Sharrows, shared use markings"
- ^ "City crews obliterate guerrilla road marks", Victoria Times Colonist, July 8, 2009
- ^ "City erases more bike 'sharrows' on Hillside", Victoria Times Colonist, July 12, 2009
- ^ "Red de carriles bici"
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sharrows |
