Friday June 11th marks a new beginning: LADOT is proud to unveil the first official Sharrows within the City of Los Angeles. Stenciled chevrons with bicycles will run along the pavement on Fountain Avenue from Western Avenue to Vermont Avenue. If you’re in the area, LADOT Bike Blog highly recommends you go check them out. Take a spin down Fountain Avenue, take a position in the center of the newly installed Sharrows, and enjoy a ride without fear of being doored.
Installation of the Sharrows began immediately after the conclusion of Bikeways’ pre-Sharrows study on Wednesday. The first site is Fountain Avenue, a mile-long stretch of 2 lane road from Vermont Avenue to Western Avenue.
Before the work crews began installation of Sharrows, their locations needed to be marked on the pavement. On Thursday, LADOT Bike Blog accompanied Bikeways staff as they set down the markers for the installation.
The CAMUTCD recommends that Sharrows be placed at intervals of 250 feet from each other, but the manual also allows for exceptions to be made depending on the layout of the street. When possible, Bikeways tried to space Sharrows at 250 feet, but the many cross streets and intersections along Fountain Avenue demanded that Sharrows be more closely spaced. When blocks were too short, Bikeways staff tried to fit a Sharrow at the beginning and end of each block. The intersection space, red curbs included, was roughly the same distance between Sharrows as one end of the block to the other.
Bikeways staff is required, per the CAMUTCD, to place new Sharrows beside car parking. Since Sharrows are meant to keep bikes out of the door zone, it wouldn’t make much sense to install a Sharrow parallel to a driveway. To make sure the Sharrows were installed correctly, pre-installation markings were set down let the work crews know where to put in new Sharrows.
On Friday, work crews laid down each stencil in Thermoplastic along the one mile route while supervised by LADOT staff.
Fountain Avenue is a fitting place for Sharrows to begin. This stretch of road is within Council District 13, represented by Council President Eric Garcetti. It was Council Motion 08-1723, introduced by Council President Garcetti and seconded by Council Member Ed Reyes back in June of 2008, that set the Sharrow pilot project in motion. Council President Garcetti even pitched in, helping to install the new Sharrows on Fountain himself.
LADOT Bike Blog lauds Council President Garcetti for his role in the installation of such a deserved, and long time coming, piece of bicycle infrastructure. But Sharrows weren’t the product of one single person’s efforts, so LADOT Bike Blog would also like to thank the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) and all the other bicycle advocates whose tireless work over the last five years made today possible. Check back with LADOT Bike Blog over the coming weeks, as we will be sure to keep you updated on Sharrows installation at the other 5 pilot project sites.
We’ll add more pictures from today to the ladotbikeblog flickr account soon.
I think that “the first official Sharrows within the City of Los Angeles” were already done a few years ago on the UCLA campus – not too long after the state approved them for street use in 2005.
It’s a good thing that these are finally being installed, but this still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, given the disgraceful delays and unjustifiable costs on this tepid pilot project.
Well hot damn! Paint on the ground. I’m glad that the LADOT has finally done this small thing. It is a sign that we will change this city into a bike-friendly town one small battle after another.
Woo hoo! Go go government painted sharrows.
GOOD JOB LADOT.
1). This is a good thing.
2). It’s a shame that there’s not more “destinations” along this mile-long route (shops, restaurants etc.).
3). It’s odd to me that the sharrow route does not extend at least to the Sunset Boulevard bike lane (for, you know, connectivity?).
4). I’m concerned that it will be difficult to asses their effectiveness over such a short and isolated area.
5). I hope it doesn’t take as long to “study” them as it did to install them.
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I just spotted (and took full advantage of) some brand new sharrows on 4th Street!
Who do I thank? This is going to make a huge difference in my commute.
Here you go, Aaron: https://ladotbikeblog.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/ladot-bike-blog-new-sharrows-installed-on-fourth-street/
You can mostly thank the LACBC for their tireless advocacy in getting Sharrows off the ground. Using the great head start LACBC supplied us, LADOT Bikeways staff did the planning work, study work, and oversaw installation. Also, Council President Eric Garcetti deserves a huge amount of credit, as he’s been fighting for Sharrows in City Hall since he introduced a council motion for the pilot project back in 2008.
[…] week, LADOT Bike Blog covered the installation of Sharrows on Fountain Avenue as part of the City’s long awaited Sharrows pilot project. Sharrows migrated their way down […]
[…] Aside from the Sharrows installation taking place (Ed. Note: In case you missed it, Sharrows 101, Sharrows Are Here: A Report From Fountain Avenue, LADOT and BSS Intall Sharrows on Fourth Street, Sharrows: Pre-Installation Studies), we have some […]
What was wrong with bike lanes again? I don’t trust LA motorists enough to stand within five feet of the curb, screw sharing a lane with them. The city of LA has gotten me OFF my bike.
I’m sorry to hear that, Vance. We’re not against bike lanes – in fact, the City has 180 miles of funded and built bike lanes, per the 2010 draft LA Bike Plan. Additionally, Sharrows have proven to be safe and effective in other California cities like San Francisco, Oakland, and Long Beach. Sharrows and bike lanes both have a place in Bikeways’ tool kit and we hope to use them as dictated by the individual situation of the roadway.
I am not familiar with Long Beach, but Oakland and SF are used to heavy pedestrian and cyclist traffic… Los Angeles motorists see them as roadblocks that are probably, though perhaps not, illegal to hit.
To top it off, the cyclists aren’t much better when it comes to a sense of entitlement. Those rallies meant to raise awareness? They wind up going high speed through the shopping center my store is in, around blind corners, threatening people and occasionally breaking a window. The last one being mine, joyous day.
I’ll watch the news for a while before I even become close to accepting these stupid sharrow things. I won’t be surprised if this goes very, very badly.
[…] though, the paint appeared to be flat, rather than the raised thermoplastic favored by LADOT. Then there was the usual shape of the blacked out shadows, with one showing misaligned chevrons […]
Very nice work… I was wondering would anybody else like to see the four foot white road reflectors put up on bike lanes so people have an actual physical barrier with reflectors between cyclists and cars
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