Standalone 

https://www.foothillsmediagroup.com/a...t#blogcomments

The East Coast Greenway posted this to their facebook. Are they kidding?

randya

it's a bike lane w/o the stripe. although they would be more prudently placed further to the left, the markings are not binding on where you need to ride

It is, however, quite disturbing that there doesn't appear to be any consistency from jurisdiction to jurisdiction as to where sharrows are placed on the roadway

Doohickie

I think they are a great idea, but yeah, there should be some standardization, preferably a little to the left.

randya

'a little to the left' would be 'in the way' of motorists, who are faster, more important road users

genec

What is the speed limit on this little road? Just wondering.

nycphotography

I find that by reminding myself of "who are faster, more important road users" I greatly increase my success at coexisting with them on the same roadway.

If someone else wants to martyr themselves in the lost cause of making bikes as important as cars... well I can't stop them, though I do try to talk them out of it.

hotbike

I would use that bike Lane, however, I would do one other thing first.

I would put a pair of Lopping Shears to that stupid bush, cut it right down to the ground.

Improved visibility is more important than the markings on the road.

PLEASE NOTE:

The Alternative Transportation Show will be back on the airwaves, albeit briefly.

Listen with a Shortwave Reciever to WBCQ, 7.415 kiloHertz,

on April 28th and or May 5th, 2011,

at 7:00 PM Eastern Time

(6:00 PM Central Time, 5:00 PM Mountain Time, or 4:00 PM Pacific Time)

This is a special broadcast "Introduction to Bicycling", aimed at novice bicyclists.

It is only a half hour broadcast, thirty minutes, and will be aired TWICE, on the dates mentioned above.

The tape is in the mail, and in the event it gets lost in the mail, it will be have to be rescheduled.

I thought this would be a good time to air a special show about bicycles, since May is National Bike Month,
and maybe, just maybe, some people are thinking about taking up bicycling, what with the price of gas going over four dollars a gallon, and now that the weather is warm.

Standalone 

so I'm overreacting? I'm looking at google maps and finding 30mph signs. I can't find the actual spot.

bhop

Looks fine to me.. That road looks nice compared to what i'm working with in some parts of my new commute.

Mauriceloridans

In theory you would put them over there on >15' wide lanes because it can be "shared". Lanes narrower than 14' or with on street parking I would put the sharrow in the middle of the lane. The road pictured has no "gutter pan".

Standalone 

Here's a sample of the city I commute in...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR0cJ...1&feature=fvwp

Hippiebrian

It kind of looks like a third grade art project...if this is an example of their highway department's best work I'd be very afraid!

degnaw

Some wonderful gutter examples from MyTown, PA:


^Narrow lane, sharrow adjacent to curb.


^Quiet, dead end residential road, obscenely narrow bike lane.

randya

Bek can probably find those two designs for you in the NACTO guide...the second one is quite common in Portland

illdoittomorrow

What is it about being in a motor vehicle that makes its user more "important"?

Malloric

It's twenty times as heavy, travels two or three times as fast, and can squish you like a bug. It's also probably commanded by a soccer mom applying makeup while her three whelps scream in the back seat. Go right on ahead and argue with it, be my guest. Me? I like to live.

nycphotography

Oh, I dunno, something about all those middle class Americans going to work every day might have something to do with it.

Contrary to popular belief, we can't all just sit around in a hippy dippy commune all the time.

randya

so all cyclists are hippies who don't work?

good job on the stereotyping

nycphotography

No, just the ones who think that bikes are more important than cars. But you're not one of "them", right?

billdsd

Except that bike lane symbols don't have the chevron stripes like this does. That's what makes it a sharrow marker.

The 2009 MUTCD has a standard for placement 9C.07:

04 If used in a shared lane with on-street parallel parking, Shared Lane Markings should be placed so that the centers of the markings are at least 11 feet from the face of the curb, or from the edge of the pavement where there is no curb.

05 If used on a street without on-street parking that has an outside travel lane that is less than 14 feet wide, the centers of the Shared Lane Markings should be at least 4 feet from the face of the curb, or from the edge of the pavement where there is no curb.

A standard sharrow marker is 40 inches wide so having the center 11 feet from the edge puts the right edge of the marker 9 feet 4 inches from the right edge of the pavement. Yes, that's in the door zone when you figure that most cars are over 6 feet wide and drivers seldom rub both tires up against the curb when parking.

Note also that those are minimums. They can be further from the edge. Even the standard is substandard. IMO, 11 feet is where the right edge of the marker should be when there is parallel parking.

People who are not familiar with what sharrow markers really mean will tend to interpret them as being where the bicyclists are supposed to ride. That is why bad placements are a real problem and in some cases worse than no shared lane marker at all. The center of a sharrow marker should be right in the center of the two tire tracks on the road.

unterhausen

actually the picture in the OP doesn't look that bad, it looks like a lane that's wide enough that I would probably feel safe sharing the lane with a motor vehicle. OTOH, Degnaw's pictures aren't the worst examples of sharrows in State College, PA, further up Allen street there is a section where there is no conceivable way to fit two cars and a bike in the available space simultaneously. It's the perfect place for sharrows right down the middle of the travel lane, because motorists and inexperienced cyclists need to be told that it's not safe riding in the gutter or door zone. However, the sharrows are painted in the door zone. Sharrows in the door zone are worse than nothing, because motorists will expect you to ride there. At the same time State College painted sharrows, they also used the same stencil in a batch of some of the most poorly laid out bike lanes in town too.

Standalone 

this is our concern, dude.

Standalone 

looks about 12' to me.

Also, it looks like some other marking used yo be there... there are still flecks of paint.

Bekologist

yeah, the new haven 2010 bike plan suggests they be placed as per 2009 MUTCD standards, centers at least 4 feet from curb face. unfortunately, there's often times a very subjective placement of roadway striping. the union schlubs that painted those out of compliance sharrows likely have no clue what they are doing.

raise a stink, get them ground off and painted further left. if CT has adopted the new MUTCD ( either automatic already or no later than jan 15, 2012 depending on state codes), those are out of compliance with state roadway striping standards..

i found this photo at the new haven government site about bicycling, i thought it was cool enough to share.....

GamblerGORD53

First of all, that bevel curb isn't going to bother your right pedal or wheels. Good design IMO. It has no resemblance to a gutter but likely has drain grates farther up the road. I could ride entirely to the right of that sharrow marking pictured. That leaves room for a bus, never mind a suv. The original line looks like 4' to me. What has parked cars got to do with the OP situation ?
In bek's pic, I doubt that cars would complain or would sharrow pollution be necessary.

PS It looks like the other side of the road is the one that's too narrow.