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sharrow
They're here! It's been a long wait, but Austin bicyclists finally will get their first taste of sharrows (shared lane markings) when the city installs the thermoplastic stencils on Guadalupe, Lavaca and 51st streets tomorrow (weather permitting).
The sharrows are part of a pilot project, which is required by the Federal Highway Administration before cities can start using them in their toolboxes for bike facilities. Specifically, they are set to go in on Guadalupe and Lavaca between 20th and Cesar Chavez, and E. 51st between I-35 and Airport Blvd.
Readers here may remember you had a chance to weigh in on the entire pilot project, which also includes colored bike lanes, bike boxes and "Bikes May Use Full Lane" signs, all which should be on the street in test form within the next couple of weeks.
Even more exciting, at least for bike facility geeks, is the fact that the Guadalupe/Lavaca sharrows will go in on both the right and left lane. We've been trying to find out if this has been done elsewhere (rumor has it Seattle has them), so we'll let you know if we're unique or not. Regardless, it's fairly rare, and the idea is to not force bicyclists to cross three lanes of traffic if they know they're going to be turning left.
There was a wee bit of drama early this week as Capitol Metro noted that they were concerned about sharrows going in on a corridor that they plan to use for Rapid Bus and regular bus service with bus-only lanes. Cap Metro felt the sharrows would give an "expectation" that the facility would be there permanently. COA is also mulling the pair of streets for future rail. However, city staff and LOBV were adamant that rail/transit planning–with an uncertain outcome or timeline–shouldn't stop sharrow use today. I pointed out that cars already have expectation that their lane will be there forever, so why should we worry about bikes? I feel confident that bicyclists will support transit planning and move out of the way if necessary. It's the motorists I worry about. (The ROMA downtown plans show bus-only lanes in the right lane, with a sharrow in the middle right lane.) In the end, we agreed to coordinate better with Cap Metro.
COA will study the sharrows over the next few months to evaluate several criteria for how bicyclists interact with them. After that point it's hopeful that they will become a full-fledged member of the local bike facility toolbox.
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