BIKE: Sharrows on Guadalupe and Lavaca downtown--not on Council agenda

[Tommy Eden]

Comrades:

The City Council issue of sharrows on Guadalupe and Lavaca Streets is NOT
on the August 26 agenda, but we should continue to send e-mail to the Mayor
and City Council.  The city staff will be posting "share the road" signs as
recommended by the Urban Transportation Commission, but getting sharrows
is much more difficult.  It requires the city staff to apply for an 
experimental use
permit to allow markings which are not approved in the Manual of Uniform 
Traffic
Control Devices.  For the City Council to simply direct the City Manager to 
paint
the markings would apparently not get the job done.  I will stay on top of 
this
issue and report back sometime in September as more developments occur.

To send an e-mail message to the Mayor and City
Council, go to www.cityofaustin.org/council/default.htm


Here is a repeat of 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).

--Tommy Eden

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