- SE Ankeny: Now with more bikes literally on the streets.
Like elves of infrastructure, Portland street crews have been installing bike “sharrows” on the busiest bike routes around town. I haven’t actually ever witnessed anyone in the streets laying down the white plastic arrows, and yet they’ve popped up this week all along my commute.
The point of the sharrows is “basically to indicate to motorists that they should beware for cyclists,” says city project manager Kyle Chisek. They smaller circles with bikes in them that have existed on Portland’s streets for years are “wayfinding” markers for cyclists, these are to alert cars that they’re driving on a road with a lot of bikes. Exactly 2,100 of the big white arrows are being installed on 53 miles of existing bike routes around inner Portland (though not in some places that could really use ’em, like Couch) as part of a $483,000 project funded with federal stimulus dollars. Each sharrow costs $229, with installation costs.
So are the sharrows a cheap way to make big changes or an expensive way to do nothing? They’re not adding any new bike routes and, of course, I like to see big changes (involving cement! Not just paint!) that make problem biking areas much safer. But the sea of sharrows should make existing bike routes safer and more pleasant to ride on and I think it’s a good idea to get our existing network safe and strong before branching out to new routes over the next decade… especially when the feds are willing to foot the bill.
And personally, I have more people who shout at me when I’m biking on places like SE Ankeny than on less-traveled routes. Especially on weekends, people from the suburbs or out of town try to zoom up the street and seem shocked and appalled to find so many cyclists in their way. I welcome a big white arrow in the road that says, “Hey doofus! You’re on a bike route!”
As someone who goes down NW 19th daily to get to work, the sharrows are definitely appreciated but I also wonder about their effectiveness. I have a lot of the “annoyed driver” b.s. happen when they get behind me, rev up their engine and then try to pass me in the next lane over (only to be met with slower traffic ahead of them, which I always find funny).
They also recently did a bunch in NE, including Holman and Vancouver, among others. I like ’em.
I first saw them laid down in my neighborhood (Kenton Park). At least here, they’ve rearranged the stop signs to make perpindicular-running traffic stop the entire stretch. I love it. It seems to be working elsewhere, too.
Psssttt Sarah, I love your informative entry about Sharrows. But psssttt Sarah, there’s a typo in the 2nd paragraph, “They smaller circles with bikes in them…” psst, you’re awesome.
I’d like to see them on N/NE Alberta and other major streets! These side street sharrows are nice, but let’s remind motorists that bicyclists are legally allowed use of the full lane on all streets where there is no bike lane (bike lanes are a different rant altogether). I mean, I’ll take the lane anyway, but not everyone is so confident.
Actually they really botched this work.
Take Ankeny for example. All the sharrow markings are within the blocks, as opposed to at intersections, where most collisions and close calls actually happen.
Imagine how much more valuable the paint on the road would be to cyclists and drivers if they were simply placed at the intersections, where drivers cutting through Ankeny from/to Burnside were to look ahead at their intersection and see a big white bike in the roadway, inspiring them to watch out for cyclists as they dash/drift through.
Instead, the city reminds the drivers already rolling down Ankeny that there are bikes in front and behind them with these sharrow markings – reminds them that our city planners know how to effectively spend taxpayer dollars on traffic safety.
Bureaucracy FAIL.
How do you know the zooming drivers are from the suburbs or out of town? Is it because they’re not white?
C’mon SE Hawthorne Street! Donate a lane to bikes and widen the car/bus lane. Please.
I live on Couch where they have tagged my street with these. I mean, wtf – it looks like some CoP maintenance crew was tweaking and just had to throw down their bike union gang sign on any blank piece of pavement they could. Is it really necessary to have these every 100′, or is just at intersections maybe sufficient? And, can I get a sharrow with a picture of my cat on it? Last I saw he spends half the day in the road avoiding cyclists. Share the road, y’all!
“Bikeportland Lite” is more boring than Bikeportland. Bring back matt davis.
Another visual distraction in an already visually busy place. These sharrows will likely do no good. Heck I am a motorist that had never heard of a sharrow before today. I just started seeing these in the NW 19th and Hoyt neighborhood and thought I’d find out what the markings meant.
I think responsible cyclists, obey traffic laws and riding defensively can accomplish far more without wasting tax dollars.
Wow! Half a million dollars of federal taxpayer money used to paint bicycles on the road! Am I really the only one that thinks this money might have been better spent somewhere else?
I’ve been seeing the number of runners, walkers, parents with baby carriages, and of course bicyclists, using streets, that were originally designed for cars, as the new sidewalk. Of course, these folks can cross onto the sidewalk anytime they want, but cars must remain on the street. The result is increased stress for the driver that doesn’t want to hurt anyone, much less a child that didn’t make the choice to get cozy with the tires of a 2 ton vehicle. Stress becomes frustration. Frustration becomes anger. Anger becomes ?
My ex-wife commuted to work on a bicycle for a whole year and as a result was physically assaulted at an intersection while waiting for a red light as well as the usual 20 oz super size drink tossed at her from the window of a moving car. I tried commuting by bike once and had similar annoyances.
I was talking to a clinical psychologist friend over a year ago and she told me that she has been hearing an increase in people expressing anger over bicyclists in this city. I can’t imagine these “sharrows” are going to really help.
I’m glad we’re not riding bikes on the street anymore.