David, if Traffic Engineering told you that sharrows are intended only for low-traffic streets, they have a misunderstanding of their purpose. Sharrows are intended to indicate to cyclists where they should be riding on streets with moderate to heavy traffic but no bike lanes. Sharrows should be placed so that cyclists are safely riding outside of the door zone and positioning themselves in the main flow of traffic. At the same time, sharrows remind motorists that bicycles belong on the street. There is a good summary of sharrows here:
http://www.cityofseattle.net/transportation/sharrows.htm Sharrows are not federally approved street markings (yet) and as such, there is little guidance on their use. Guidance from California states that sharrows should not be placed on streets with no on-street parking (like East Wilson near RP's). Technically, the city should be conducting a study in association with these new sharrows with the results submitted to the Federal Highway Administration on if the markings helped reduce crashes or other car/bike issues. While there are plenty of places around Madison that the use of sharrows would be appropriate, I am not sure that East Wilson is one of them. -- Kevin Luecke Lead Planner Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin 608-251-4456 [email protected] www.bfw.org
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