Project encourages drivers, bicyclists to share road

MOSES LAKE - While the law says bicyclists are allowed to ride on city streets along with vehicle traffic, the reality is sometimes less straightforward.

"We know now that cyclists can use the roadway - that's within their rights - but many cyclists are timid about getting out in that lane," said Joe Rogers, a member of the Moses Lake Trail Planning Team.

Some bike riders end up riding on sidewalks, creating a hazard for pedestrians, he said. Riders who do take to the streets often hug the shoulder next to parked vehicles, making for an unsafe situation when car doors are opened in their path.

At the recommendation of Rogers and the rest of the Trail Planning Team, the Moses Lake City Council recently approved a pilot project that might provide a solution. The city plans to mark certain downtown city streets with "sharrows," chevron symbols painted in a portion of the right traffic lane to notify bicyclists and drivers alike that the road has space for both.

Sharrows can link bike lanes when there isn't enough right of way, when parking or traffic lanes can't be eliminated or when the curb and gutter are already built and the cost is prohibitive to widen the street, according to Moses Lake municipal services director Gary Harer. He said about 90 symbols will be painted along Third Avenue, Fourth Avenue and Balsam Street to link bike lanes along East and West Broadway Avenue.

"This is a very critical link and we think it will be well-used," he told council members last month.

Sharrows aren't a new phenomenon. Rogers noted dozens of cities across the U.S. that have been using them for years. Regionally, Spokane and Ellensburg both employ sharrows as part of their efforts to encourage alternative modes of transportation and numerous studies have shown sharrows to be an effective way of increasing safety for all road users, Rogers said.

"When motorists come up beside a cyclist they don't oftentimes know if they should be in the lane," he said. "Sometimes they think they shouldn't be so they try to nudge them over, but with sharrows drivers have been found to move into other lane to go around."

Councilwoman Karen Liebrecht said she likes the idea, but not necessarily the $15,000 price tag.

"At about $150 a symbol, that's a lot of money," she said.

The city may get a better price by contracting the work out, but Harer said the estimated cost reflects the going rate for such work, which requires hand stenciling and corresponding traffic control. The symbols will be painted about three feet out from parked cars to prevent bicyclists from hitting open car doors, positioning them in the center of the wheel track and requiring them to be repainted every year, Harer said.

The annual expense will come from the path and trails fund, which draws money from state gas taxes and city contributions and currently holds about $250,000 according to the Moses Lake 2011 budget.

The city won't move on the project until a public education campaign is launched sometime in the next few weeks, and Mayor Jon Lane said he's interested to see how residents react.

"It will be an interesting project and I'll be curious how the community accepts this and how many bicycles we have out there," Lane said.

"I hope it works well, but along with installing things like bike lanes there really needs to be more education for drivers," said Cory Clasen, owner of Moses Lake Multisport, a bike shop on West Broadway. In his experience, Clasen said up to now the city hasn't been a very bike-friendly place to ride and Moses Lake leaders haven't been entirely supportive of bicycling in the past, leading him to hold bike-related events in Ephrata or elsewhere.

Trail Planning Team member Gale Ham hopes sharrows can help the city start to turn things around.

"We've been trying to encourage people to get out and use a bicycle or walk to work, but we have to build the infrastructure and I think this is a good test on that," Ham said. "I don't expect to see thousands of bicycles out there but it's a great start and it's a great education opportunity for the community."