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. 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.^[2].

Contents 1 History 2 USA 3 Canada 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

History

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^[3]. 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).^[4]

In 2004, the city of San Francisco, California began experimenting with the shared lane marking,^[5] and developed a revised symbol consisting of a bicycle symbol with two chevron markings above the bicycle.

The stated purposes of the shared-lane markings used in California were 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.

USA

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.^[6]

In the 2009 edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, shared lane markings were approved for general use.^[7] They have been used in a number of cites, including:^[8]

• Flagstaff, Arizona
• Long Beach, California
• Los Angeles, California ^[9]
• Santa Monica, California
• Fort Collins, Colorado
• Miami, Florida
• Miami Beach, Florida
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Chicago, Illinois
• Fort Wayne, Indiana
• Louisville, Kentucky
• Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Minneapolis Minnesota ^[10]
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Albany, New York
• Ithaca, New York
• Cary, North Carolina
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Columbus, Ohio
• Dayton, Ohio
• Portland, Oregon
• Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Spartanburg, South Carolina
• Austin, Texas
• Salt Lake City, Utah
• Bellevue, Washington
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Other US jurisdictions have also installed this marking, but are not participating in US federally approved or sanctioned experiments. There is a concern that the shared lane markings installed in some of these locations are not consistent with recent recommendations on marking design and positioning.

In January 2007, the US National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD) endorsed the shared lane marking concept, and recommended its inclusion in the US Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).^[11] The shared lane marking is now included in the current version of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), which was adopted by the Federal Highway Administration on December 16, 2009.^[12]

The city of Seattle, Washington included extensive use of shared lane markings in its Bicycle Master Plan of early 2007.^[13]

Canada

• 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. ^{[14] [15]}
• Toronto (Ontario) also features "sharrows" on several streets.
• St. Catharines (Ontario) has upgraded several major streets (Scott Street, Geneva Street) and the downtown core with sharrows as of 2009.
• Edmonton has begun to install shared-lane markings on several streets in 2009.
• Saskatoon installed shared-lane markings on most of its downtown streets in 2009.
• Winnipeg has begun to use shared-lane markings since 2008.
• Montreal has had shared-lane markings on paths into and out of the downtown core, since 2006^[16]. Many indicate a path of travel inconsistent with the intent of the shared-lane marking^[17][18].
• Moncton has begun using shared-lane markings in 2010.
• Vancouver has sharrows on some streets, in addition to separated bike lanes. ^[19]

See also

• Door zone
• Shared space

References

External links

• "Four Solid Uses for Sharrows"
• NCUTCD webpage on shared-lane marking
• FAQ on shared lane markings created by Bike Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Dept. of City Planning