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City officials, state officials and a whole slew of bike riders gathered this morning at the South Campus Gateway to unveil the first “sharrow” street marking that will remind motorists and cyclists to share the roadway along High Street. 188 more of these markings will soon be added to High Street between Morse Road and Nationwide Boulevard as a part of the City’s Bicentennial Bikeways Plan.
“We are investing in signage, bike racks and other infrastructure to make Columbus streets safer for cyclists and motorists to share the road,” said Mayor Michael B. Coleman. “Making Columbus a great cycling city is good for our environment and improves our quality of life.”
The City of Columbus is committing $10 million toward bikeways projects in 2010, which include the creation of new bike lanes, shared sign routes, nine miles of new bike trails, and design work for a new pedestrian/biking bridge to connect North Bank Park to Franklinton.
Following today’s sharrow unveiling, the riders took to High Street for the start of Bike To Work Week. More photos from the event are below:
More information can be found online at www.sharetheroadcolumbus.org.
Hey Walker,
Thanks for posting this and thanks for coming out to this. It was wet however, I was happy with the turn out :) Hopefully the week, weatherwise, improves….
GOOD! It’s about time!
Great, lets turn Columbus into Bangkok.
Of course, I wasn’t notified. I’ll have to check it out in person, but the placement looks good. I see they’re still high on bike lanes. Sorry, but I actually want motorists to see me, which is why I suggest the city drop that nonsense which is the equivalent of junk science.
If sharrows are good enough for High St, they’re good enough for Broad, Cleveland ,etc.
Columbusite, what are you talking about? I’m missing your point.
sharrows>bike lanes
Look at page 7 of Alta Planning’s presentation on cycling infrastructure (the firm who will be creating our cycling infrastructure vs. expert cyclists). Prominently displayed as a success is a picture of cyclist in the bike lane passing by a parked pickup. When a door is opened in such an instance the bike lane cyclist either takes the impact and risks serious injury or death, as has happened in other cities, or the cyclist can swerve out into moving traffic. Lack of visibility = much greater chance of being hit.
How is this not blatant prioritization of cars over peoples’ lives? Alta Planning would rather not subject motorists to having to pass a cyclist and use one of the other two travel lanes pictured there. That would add a couple seconds to their commute, you know. And for the city of Columbus to embrace such infrastructure raises some ethical questions that they need to address.
Good news! I am happy about these new “sharrows,” but I would not mind bike lanes separate from the road. I have seen them work.
Alove, the question then becomes “will they work here?”. What were the road conditions, how wide were the lanes, urban commercial district with little off street parking, etc?
But yeah, good to see this happen. I still question the effect these will have on actually encouraging new cyclists, since High seems pretty well used by cyclists already. Those not using High are taking the OBT or any number of side roads that run just a bit east or west of High.
Here’s my critique of Alta Planning’s bike lanes. Tell me you want them after reading that.
Sharrows are less likely to encourage new cyclists, but properly done they inform motorists that cyclists are traffic too. For cyclists who already know how to ride in traffic it’s now going to take a mere gesture to silence the few motorists who think we don’t belong on the road. Safety>more cyclists on the road
Bonus videos:
Press Release:
THE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR INNOVATIVE BICYCLE COMMUTING INITIATIVE
May 17th community event launches “2 BY 2012â€Â
Consider Biking announced today the launch of its “2 BY 2012†campaign with a $295,451 grant from The Columbus Foundation. The campaign was developed to increase and incentivize the use of active bicycle transportation by central Ohio commuters.
Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman led 70 central Ohio CEOs and local cyclists on a 2.5-mile bicycle commute to kick off “Bike to Work Week†and demonstrate the dedication of both the city and the corporate community to support the new active transportation initiative, “2 BY 2012.â€Â
“2 BY 2012 is our goal to get as many central Ohio citizens as possible to bicycle to work 2 days per month by 2012, which is the Columbus bicentennial,†says Jeff Stephens, executive director of Consider Biking. “Bicycle commuting 2 days per month would make Columbus the greenest city in the country. And, 2 days per month is a reasonable goal that many could aspire to.â€Â
The three-year grant was made possible by the Robert Bartels, William C. and Naoma W. Denison, Charlotte R. Haller, Robert B. Hurst, and the Martha G. Staub funds of The Columbus Foundation.
Over the next three years,â€Â2 BY 2012†will focus on changing single-use-automobile commuting to active bicycle transportation. Currently, Columbus is home to approximately 5,000 bike commuters or .7% of the commuter trips. The “2 BY 2012†effort seeks to increase bicycling participation to 2% of the population in time for the City’s 2012 Bicentennial.
Initial partnerships are focused on the largest 15 workplaces in central Ohio, which directly reach up to 50,000 employees. Consider Biking will provide consultation to these workplaces to engage their employees in a variety of ways, from financial incentives, and education programs, to enhancing the end-of-ride facilities like bike storage and changing accommodations. Early adopters include Battelle, Columbia Gas, Fifth Third Bank, Nationwide Insurance, JPMorgan Chase, Ohio Health, OCLC, and The Ohio State University.
Bike commuting provides benefits to commuters, employers, and the community as a whole. An increase in biking means less vehicle traffic, less pollution, and a healthier population. In April 2010, Columbus was ranked the 34th best city in America to ride a bike by Bicycling magazine based on factors such as municipal bike racks, bike lanes, local government involvement, and bike culture.
While I agree a lot more could be done, and even as a casual rider I believe in taking the lane, its still good to see city officials focus on this issue.
Now if only I didn’t work so bleeding early…
@Columbusite
“Safety>more cyclists on the road”
I disagree. Safety=more cyclists on the road. If there are more they will be more visible. And lanes will get more people biking.
Then provide the facts, otherwise stating you disagree proves nothing. More novice cyclists riding improperly does not = safety. I’ve seen that first hand here.
Lanes may get an initial boost in traffic, but as Columbusite has been articulating from various angles for some time now all over these messageboards, they simply will not work and they will not happen- especially on High St where they have recently completed several extensive construction projects where they decided to (erroneously) over-prioritize street parking instead of bike lanes or smoother COTA lanes. You go get car doored and right-hooked, I’ll be content to ride in the middle of the lane, take an occasional ignorant motorist trying to honk me to the side of the road and preserve my life and get to my destination faster.
thanks for posting walker! this is great and a step in the right direction. as someone who doesn’t own a car i am excited for the bike lanes to be put into place which will hopefully encourage more people to get out there and travel by bike. :)
“Here’s my critique of Alta Planning’s bike lanes. Tell me you want them after reading that.”
Yup, I still like riding in them and want them in Columbus. To support CBusTransit’s point, here’s a nice link with several references:
http://streetswiki.wikispaces.com/Safety+In+Numbers
More recent news from NYC:
http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/05/05/cycling-injuries-continue-to-fall-even-as-more-new-yorkers-ride/
John, I don’t see anything that correlates the rise in numbers or decline in injuries directly to additional bike lanes or other infrastructure improvements.
Hey, John, how ’bout some f%ckin’ facts? Thanks!
Columbusite,
Which part of what I wrote do you dispute?
1. That the safety in numbers effect exists as shown by the Jacobson study and empirical evidence from numerous places.
2. That bike lanes increase the number of cyclists.
3. That the increase in cycling in New York City is at least partially attributable to the installation of on-street bicycle infrastructure, including bike lanes.
LO2W,
I don’t claim that the bike lanes are directly responsible for the safety improvement. I think the safety is improved by having more bikes on the streets. Infrastructure is one way – I think the most effective way – to get more cyclists on the street. In summary:
bike lanes/paths/routes/boulvards/education/enforcement –> more cyclists –> more drivers expect cyclists –> better driving by motorists –> safer cycling