BIKE: Sharrows on Guadalupe and Lavaca downtown--tentative City Council agenda date

[Tommy Eden]

Comrades:

A tentative date for the City Council agenda issue of sharrows on
Guadalupe and Lavaca Streets is August 26.  It is time for everyone to
be sending e-mail to the Mayor and City Council.  The sponsor is Danny
Thomas; the co-sponsor is Raul Alvarez.  Here are some of the issues:

The original request was for bicycle lanes on Guadalupe and Lavaca streets
downtown.  The city staff opposed this proposal, because bicycle lanes
would require either the removal of a lane of traffic or parking spaces.  In
view of the opposition, and lacking a consensus among ourselves, the
bicyclists who had offered the proposal decided to withdraw that proposal.

"Sharrows" (share arrows) are becoming popular in some other
cities around the United States.  Recent experiments in California
and Florida have proven that sharrows may have beneficial effects.

Earlier this year, the Urban Transportation Commission considered a proposal
to require either bicycle lanes, sharrows, or signage reminding vehicle
drivers on Guadalupe and Lavaca to share the road.  During that discussion,
the proposal was modified to recommend sharrows with "share the road"
signage.  The UTC made this recommendation by a unanimous vote.

Despite continuing opposition from the City of Austin transportation staff, 
City
Council Member Danny Thomas has agreed to sponsor the recommendation
from the UTC, and Council Member Raul Alvarez has agreed to co-sponsor
it.  Mayor Pro-Tem Jackie Goodman has assured her strong support.  The
measure will require at least four votes to pass, so approval is not yet 
certain.

City staff is likely to recommend disapproval of the proposal,
because sharrows are not yet an approved standard in the
engineers' MUTCD (Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices).

Now is the time to contact the Mayor and City Council to urge support
of Council Member Thomas' proposal for sharrows on Guadalupe and
Lavaca Streets downtown.  To send an e-mail message to the Mayor
and City Council, go to www.cityofaustin.org/council/default.htm

--Tommy Eden

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