Repaving Truman With Sharrows

By Rick Boettger

I met with City Manager Jim Scholl to discuss the planned repaving of Truman Avenue, and especially the painting of “sharrows.” Sharrows are the little bicycle icons painted on the roadway, along with signs saying “(Bike icon) may use full lane.” They encourage bikers to ride the highway and motorists to slow down patiently behind them.

I wanted to tell Jim that my reading of the state law stated how and where sharrows could be used, but did not make them mandatory. Fortunately, he was way ahead of me. City Engineer Jim Bouquet had just researched the question and sent Jim a definitive memo. This is what FDOT officially says about sharrows (emphasis added):

“The shared lane marking is an OPTIONAL pavement marking for shared lane roadways. It MAY me used to assist bicyclists on a roadway open to bicycle travel where no bicycle lane or PAVED SHOULDER exists or is feasible….They are NOT INTENDED TO BE PLACED ON EVERY [SUCH] ROADWAY….

“Following are conditions where shared lane marking should be considered…:

  • In conjunction with on-street parking
  • Where forward sight distance is limited due to [sharp turns or hills]
  • Where gaps exist between bicycle facilities . . .and an urban center, school, park, or transit hub
  • When the roadway has an average bicycle crash history of 3 or more per mile, over a 3 year period.”

Game over. Not a single reason exists, especially westbound, which allows no parking from Eisenhower to Whitehead. The “crash history” actually makes no sense, as the only scientific study of the safety of sharrows showed MORE injuries after they were installed than before.

In fact, the memo explains a discussion I had with the construction manager for the North Roosevelt project, Jacki Hart, about the sharrows there. She told me she in fact had ordered a manager to postpone painting them and putting up the signs until she discussed them more with Jim Scholl. But that manager missed telling his crew chief the news, and the crew went ahead that night as planned.

Jim confirmed that story. We could have at least been spared the sharrows from the Y to Kennedy, where the promenade is the best-“paved shoulder” I’ve ever seen. And, scared pedestrians now have the option of walking on the inland sidewalk.

On the boulevard, cars at least have the option of passing. On Truman, traffic can back up for blocks behind a fat-tire biker going from Eisenhower to Whitehead at my usual 6 mph. Meanwhile, bike “facilities” in FDOT’s terminology means alternate routes. We have just a block over Virginia/Amelia on one side and Olivia, one-way outbound, on the other.

Olivia is a 20 mph street which I take daily because I live on it. Cars expect us to be there, and only once in my 8 years here has someone roared up behind me and honked (he closed his window when I jumped off my bike to explain Key West etiquette to him). We pull to the side at an intersection and exchange friendly waves as we let the cars pass.

Remember, bicyclists have the right to use the roadways whether the sharrows are there or not. The fast bikers know this and use that right. The perverse consequence of the sharrows is to encourage unwitting tourists and other slow bikers to actually endanger themselves, as well as ruining the traffic.

Actually, the whole project is a disturbing boondoggle. I slowly biked the whole stretch (mostly on the sidewalk) and it is one of the best-paved streets in our city. Not a single pothole. Only one filled utility ditch with a slight bump at Georgia. Manhole covers were replaced with perfect patch paving around them. Much had been completely redone just a few years ago when the pipes along Bayview Park were replaced.

But I am resigned to the fact that traffic will be obstructed, diverted to my quiet Olivia street, for 140 days. Why? Just because. FDOT made it part of the whole North Roosevelt project. Oh, they need to add those bumpy yellow strips of near-zero utility. And of course the sign manufacturers will cram in as many as they have on the boulevard. All in all, we are worse off for this taxpayer-funded, money burning project.

But please don’t add insult to injury, and here I mean real injuries to bikers, and to the driving schedule of Truman motorists. FDOT did not follow their guidelines about offering incentives for fast completion and using two-way traffic in business areas on North Roosevelt, to our extended misery. Please follow the guidelines for sharrows, and keep them and their own flurry of signs off of Truman.

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