What is a sharrow? Bicyclists should get familiar

While bike riding recently through Danville, I noticed many painted sharrow signs on the city’s roadways and gave me a glimpse into Richmond’s future with sharrows. Within the next year, the City of Richmond will be installing sharrow lanes on many of the main bike corridors. Want to know more? The city provided material about sharrows: Shared […]

August 17, 2011; 6:24 AM • by Phil Riggan

While bike riding recently through Danville, I noticed many painted sharrow signs on the city’s roadways and gave me a glimpse into Richmond’s future with sharrows.

Within the next year, the City of Richmond will be installing sharrow lanes on many of the main bike corridors. Want to know more? The city provided material about sharrows:

Shared lane pavement markings (or “sharrows”) are bicycle symbols carefully placed to guide bicyclists to the best place to ride on the road, avoid car doors and remind drivers to share the road with cyclists. Unlike bicycle lanes, sharrows do not designate a particular part of the street for the exclusive use of bicyclists.
They are simply a marking to guide bicyclists to the best place to ride and help motorists expect to see and share the lane with bicyclists.

What do sharrows mean for motorists and bicyclists?

Motorists:
• Expect to see bicyclists on the street
• Remember to give bicyclists three feet of space when passing
• Follow the rules of the road as if there were no sharrows

Bicyclists:
• Use the sharrow to guide where you ride within the lane
• Remember not to ride too close to parked cars
• Follow the rules of the road as if there were no sharrows

Purpose of sharrows:
To indicate a cyclist’s right to the lane. (It does not confer the right, it just informs road users to it.)

Reduce bicycling on sidewalks
Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in a shared lane with on-street parallel parking in order to reduce the chance of a bicyclist’s impacting the open door of a parked vehicle
Encourage safe passing of bicyclists by motorists
Reduce the incidence of wrong-way bicycling

Bicycle corridors planned for sharrow installations
US Bike Route 1
Begins at the NCL Richmond on Hermitage Road and ends at the SCL Richmond on Cherokee Road

Major North-South Bike Route
Begins at the NCL Richmond on Hermitage Road and ends at the SCL Richmond on Iron Bridge Road

Major East-West Bike Route
Begins in the west at Westhampton Way at the University of Richmond and ends in the east at Williamsburg Road