Description
Application
Advantages
Disadvantages
Design Considerations
Implementation Challenges
Example Cities

Seattle, WA	Montreal, Canada	Brooklyn, NY

Description
Shared roadway pavement markings, or “sharrows”, are markings used to indicate a shared lane environment for bicycles and automobiles. Sharrows reinforce the validity of bicycle traffic on the road and suggest proper positioning of cyclists on the street.

Application

• Streets with moderate motor vehicle traffic volume, but where bike lanes are precluded by constrained right‐of‐way space.
• Short gaps between bike lanes.
• Two-way streets without sufficient space for bike lanes in both directions.
• Low volume, low speed shared roadways that are part of a bicycle route network.
• To designate movement and positioning of bicycles through a shared turn lane.
  

Advantages

• Helps bicyclists position themselves safely in lanes too narrow for a motor vehicle and a bicycle to travel side by side within the same traffic lane.
• Mimics the effect of bicycle lanes on streets with constrained rights of way and alerts road users of the
  lateral location bicyclists may occupy.
• Moves cyclists out of the “door zone” of parked cars.
• Encourages safe passing by motorists.
• Requires no additional roadway space.
• Alerts all road users to the presence of bicycles.

Disadvantages

• Maintenance requirements.
• May be a poor substitute in circumstances where a bicycle-exclusive facility is warranted.

Design/Maintenance Considerations

• Frequent, visible placement of markings is essential.
• Lateral placement is critical to encourage riders to avoid the “door zone.”
• Design guidance for sharrows will be provided in the forthcoming edition of the FHWA Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

Implementation Obstacles

• None.

Example Cities

• Used by at least 76 jurisdictions in 26 States as of 2009, including most NACTO member cities.

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