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by Thomas MacMillan | May 21, 2010 2:28 pm

(10) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: City Hall, Transportation

“Sharrows” will appear on city streets within six weeks, encouraging motorists and cyclists to share the road.

The symbols (pictured here on a street on Austin, Texas) will be painted on the pavement to indicate designated biking routes through town.

The Board of Aldermen voted Thursday evening to allow the city to receive $40,000 of federal reimbursement money from the Greater New Haven Transit District to help pay for the sharrows project.

The total cost will be $115,000 to $125,000, according to East Rock Aldermen Justin Elicker, chair of the Board of Aldermen’s City Services and Environmental Policy Committee.

The money to pay for the project has already been allocated in the budget for Fiscal Year 09-10, said Elicker.

A company called Hi-Way Safety Systems won the bidding process and the project will be complete by the end of June, said Mike Piscitelli, director of the traffic and parking department.

Sharrows will be painted to indicate bike routes on portions of State, Orange, Grove, and George Streets. There will also be a bike route marked to and from Westville, by way of Chapel Street and Edgewood Avenue. The project includes the installation of signs to guide cyclists to Union Station. See background here.

“We’re very pleased,” said Piscitelli.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Elicker.

He noted that Yale recently painted sharrows to mark a bike route through a parking lot near its biology building on Whitney Avenue. Elicker said he has biked through there daily for three years and he’s noticed the difference the sharrows have made.

“You just feel like you belong there,” he said.

“This is only the beginning,” Elicker said. He said he hopes the presence of sharrows will inspire more bike-friendly measures. “People will realize it’s a great thing.”

Comments

posted by: anon on May 21, 2010 2:32pm

Sharrows were also promised for Fair Haven this year. When does the bid go out for them?

posted by: streever on May 21, 2010 2:38pm

Nice work Mike! TTP is a really effective department.

I’m glad to see such an inexpensive way to encourage cycling being implemented. I hope we see more city employees conduct business on bike as it becomes easier—it will save us money in the long run & improve the city for everyone.

Thanks Mike & Justin!

posted by: city bike on May 21, 2010 2:52pm

Sounds like a great start!

posted by: zak on May 21, 2010 5:24pm

it’s appropriate that this news came out today. It’s National Bike to Work day…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/21/national-bike-to-work-day_n_583508.html

posted by: Rossiterpj on May 21, 2010 11:20pm

Really, $125,000 so that bikers will feel like they belong on the street?

posted by: William Kurtz on May 22, 2010 8:49am

It would be more accurately stated as $125,000 so motorists would realize that cyclists belong in the street.

This is a good step; congratulations.

posted by: Chicwa on May 22, 2010 10:48am

Rossiterpj,

Bikers already feel, and know, that they belong in the street.

It’s the other self-important road users that must be educated.

posted by: Kip on May 22, 2010 11:20am

Yeah Ross, they’re just burning money aren’t they? What an awesome graphic though, almost looks like a Valero ad among other things.

posted by: Paul Stabach on May 22, 2010 8:47pm

This is awesome..
But there is still more work to be done.
The number one reason people give when asked “why they don’t ride a bicycle in New Haven?” is because they don’t feel safe.

Idaho Stop.

posted by: Tom Wald on May 23, 2010 2:35pm

That’s a nice photo of sharrows, but it isn’t in Austin, Texas. We do have sharrows in Austin, but at this point (late May 2010), we have them only on several streets: Lavaca, Guadalupe, Dean Keeton, and 51st. Those shown are on none of those streets.

I and many others here love the new sharrows. I hope New Haven will implement them too.

Tom Wald
Executive Director, League of Bicycling Voters
Chair, Austin Bicycle Advisory Council
http://lobv.org/
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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