Sharrows!

Avid bike blog readers may be aware that there is a pilot sharrows project going on in Los Angeles right now. They are popping up in a few places. This was my first sighting! I found these near a friend's house in the Miracle Mile/Wilshire Center part of town on a small two block stretch on 4th Street roughly between Wilton and St. Andrews.

These sharrows have been placed within the last couple of weeks.

Sharrows are a particularly cheap way to make cyclists feel safer on the roads and to make drivers aware that cyclists belong on the road and not on the sidewalk. I applaud Los Angeles for getting with the program and installing sharrows. Better late than never! Hopefully the pilot program will be a big success and we'll begin to see them all over the city.


I'm particularly excited to learn that sharrows are planned for Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice. Currently riding on Abbot Kinney is a bit treacherous. It's one lane in each direction with lots of highly-sought-after street parking, opening car doors, pedestrians, aggressive drivers, and perhaps worst of all - wrong way cyclists. Weekends are particularly hairy with people coming from all over to hang out at bars, shop, dine and go to the beach. Despite all this, lots of cyclists (myself included) bravely stake their claim and ride the boulevard. Hopefully the new lane markings will help. I'll post photos of those as soon as they are placed.


Here are links to a few blogs if you want to know more about the Los Angeles sharrows program or cycling in Los Angeles in general.


LADOT Bike Blog
BikingInLA
BikesideLA
Streetsblog Los Angeles

Please comment if you've seen any sharrows in Los Angeles, or if you have sharrows in your home town and would like to comment on whether or not you feel they help.