Sam Adams
Commissioner
Susan D. Keil
Director
Eileen Argentina
System Management
Bryant Enge
Business Services
Don Gardner
Engineering & Development
Sam M. Irving, Jr.
Maintenance
John Gillam & Steve Iwata
Planning
August 31, 2005
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Transportation Operations
400 Seventh Street. SW, HOTO
Washington, DC
RE: Request for Permission to Experiment to Install Shared Lane Markings
Dear Sir or Madam:
The City of Portland Office of Transportation respectfully requests permission to experiment with the installation of Shard Lane Markings. The subject pavement markings is a "bike-and-Chevron" marking that delinates where both bicyclists nd motorists will share a travel lane. The California Traffic Control Devisices Committee adopted this symbol on August 12, 2004 for use on California Roads.
The following information summaries the project background and provides the information as requested in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), Section 1A.10 Interpretations, Experimentations, Changes, and Interim approvals.
BACKGROUND
Bicycle travel in Portland has increased rapidly in the past decade. This increase has resulted in Portland's having one of the more respected and user-friendly transportation systems in the country. With its pedestrian orientation, relatively low traffic congestion, and connected street grid, bicycle trips are a pleasant daily option for many people. In addition, as more residents have been cycling for daily transportation, more have been advocating for improved bicycling conditions. This has resulted in more miles of bicycle lanes, bicycle boulevards, and off street paths, more bicycle parking, and better maintenance of existing facilities, all of which have encouraged more bicycle riding, which has tripled in Portland's Central City over the past ten years.
These factors have led policy makers at all levels to treat the bicycle as a serious mode of transportation. As early as 1971, Oregon adopted a state law (ORS 366.514) that requires cities and counties to expend a minimum of one percent of transportation revenues on bikeways and walkways, and that bikeways and walkways are included as part of roadway construction and reconstruction.
Many subsequent goals and policies have been adopted toward this end, including the 1991 Oregon State Land Conservation and Development Commission's Transportation Planning Rile (Goal 12), which requires all jurisdictions in the Portland Metro Area to prepare a plan to reduce automobile miles traveled per capita by 20 percent over the next 30 years. The regional government, Metro, has been leading an effort to ensure that future land use development encourages balanced transportation options, including bicycle transportation.
Following this growing policy support, additional funding has been made available for bicycle transportation improvements. This had been true on the local and state level, as well as the federal level, beginning with the 1990 Clean Air Act and the 1991 Inter-Modal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). The resulting advocacy and increased policy and financial support from all government levels have resulted in significant bicycle transportation improvements. These, in turn, have lead to dramatic increases in bicycle ridership in Portland.
As part of these bicycle transportation improvements, the City of Portland is developing guidelines for using shared lane pavement marking for use when bicycle lanes cannot be marked due to one or more of the following conditions.
The City views shared-lane pavement markings as a possible solution to bridging the gaps in developed bikeways and improving roadway corridors that are classified City Bikeways that fall under one of the conditions mentioned above.
REQUESTED DATA
A. Nature of the Problem
The City of Portland has developed bikeways - some of which are marked with bicycle lanes - as a commitment to city residents to provide safe and convenient conditions for bicycling. The decision to mark bicycle lanes on specific streets, as part of Portland's bikeway network, acknowledges that an untreated shared lane riding environment on these specific is inappropriate for safe and convenient bicycle travel.
However, bicycle lanes are occasionally incomplete on segments of a given corridor, or cannot be marked along a corridor, due to the three above-mentioned reasons. These gaps in a given bikeway corridor leave cyclists in a shared lane environment that is inappropriate given volume and/or speed conditions along that bikeway. Cyclists have reported that bicycle lanes that abruptly end are a significant deficiency in providing for safe and convenient bicycle travel. Office of Transportation staff recognize that the loss or absence of bicycle lanes on a roadway where our guidelines otherwise call for them discourages many residents from bicycling along that corridor. As both in San Francisco (CA) 1 and Cambridge (MA) 2 studies demonstrated, on roadways where bicycle lanes would otherwise be the recommended treatment but cannot be provided, cyclists endanger themselves by riding too closely to parked cars (i.e. within the "door zone"), and overtaking vehicles pass cyclists too closely. The unpleasantness of these experiences for cyclists likely has the effect of discouraging increased bicycle use along corridors where such conditions exist.
It is also the policy of the City of Portland to develop bikeways that are as direct as possible, and to not divert cyclists from a direct route, as might be the case when needed bicycle lanes cannot be marked. For these reasons; the highest priority for applying shared lane pavement markings are on bikeway corridors where marked bicycle lanes end due to operational or geographic barriers to their continuation. The proposed shared lane pavement- markings are intended to improve operating conditions for cyclists on City Bikeways where bicycle lanes are not feasible.
B. Description of Proposed Experiment
The City of Portland will install Bike-and-Chevron shared lane markings on several roadway segments with gaps of varying lengths in bicycle lanes facilities. The marking will be placed on those block faces where there are no existing bicycle lanes. These marking will be placed in the travel lanes in a manner that will communicate to both cyclists and motorists the legitimacy of cyclists sharing the lane, and where cyclists should position themselves in the travel lane relative to parked vehicles.
C. Illustration of Shared Lane Markings
Refer to Figure 1 and 2 for a representation of the proposed pavement markings. Figure 1 shows the Bike and Chevron marking that are proposed for installation. Figure 2 shows the proposed locations of the markings relative to parked vehicles.
D. Supporting Data on Development
U.S. cities that have experimented or are experimenting with shared lane markings as a potential solution to-gaps in bicycle facilities include Denver (CO), Gainesville (FL), Cambridge (MA), Oakland (CA), and Fort Collins (CO). The City of San Francisco California, Department of Parking and Traffic (SF DPT) recently conducted a study of shared -lane markings in their jurisdiction. 1 The study, which was prepared by AltaPlanning + Design, researched the shared lane markings, and their application from other U.S. governing agencies. Their study was noteworthy for two elements:
1) A human factors' survey identified that of three markings considered it was the bike and chevron shared lane marking that had the most clearly; understood "shared lane' message.
2) The use of shared lane markings improved -'the position of both motorists and cyclists on, roadways without bicycle lanes, and encouraged correct bicyclist riding behavior.
The completed San Francisco study demonstrated that shared lane pavement markings in San Francisco had a positive impact on motorist and cyclist behavior and safety. The results showed that "the bike-and-chevron marking had a stronger impact on motorist positioning and in reducing wrong way riding and is preferred by cyclists surveyed." 1 Alto recommended that the bike-and-chevron be used as a standard marking in San Francisco for shared use lanes on appropriate streets. The study resulted in the adoption on August 12, 2004, of the Bike-and-Chevron "sharrow" by the California Traffic Control Device Committee. Adoption by Caltrans for incorporating the shared lane marking in the MUTCD 2003 California Supplement is pending.
E. Patent and Copyright Protection
The Bike-and-Chevron shared lane marking is not copyrighted: The use by several cities of this marking indicates that there is not a patent protection for this symbol.F
F. Time Period and Location
The time period for the experimentation is one year beginning about September 2005 until the rain begins and starting again in about June 2005 when the rain ends. Candidate streets were chosen based on the guidelines developed by Portland's Office of Transportation, which evaluates candidate roadway segments based on the following criteria and characteristics.
Portland used the above criteria to select the following candidate street segments:
G. Research and Evaluation Plan
The City of Portland Office of Transportation will oversee the monitoring and evaluation of the experiment. The following is a summary of the planned monitoring and evaluation process.
The City of Portland proposed to install the Bike-in-Chevron shared lane markings in candidate locations as mentioned in Section F. Two markings per black face will be installed Figure 3 shows the locations and frequency at three candidate road segments.
The City of Portland proposed to collect video data using a camera mounted on a most arm directly over the shared lane marking to minimize distortion. At least 40 hours per location will be recorded, split evenly between before and after periods. Cyclist position on the roadway will be determined by taking measurements from the video recordings relative to pavement markings placed at one-=foot intervals between 8'-16' from the curb. The markings, which will be either painted or taped, will be as small as can be readily discerned to the video cameras.
[Image not shown: Iamge of a street grid. The street has nine blocks going east north-south, and 4 block east-west. The shared lane markings will go at each intersection on the far left street going north south. There will be 11 shared lane markings propsals on that street. On the street to the right of that, there are 6 proposed shared lanes markings, two on the last 3 blocks going north-south. There are 5 additional shared lane markings on the far south street going east-west. (See the PDF version to view images)]Figure 3: Shared Lane Marking Placement
The study methodology will focus in the primary area of observed measurable behavior. The following. observations and measurements will be conducted for both before and after the installation of shared lane pavements markings.
Additionally, the following data will also be collected and reported for the same observations period
Before and after measurement and observations will be taken at locations where shared lane pavement markings will be placed l 1' and 12' feet from the curb face. A statistical analysis will be conducted using the collected data if a statistically significant sample size is obtained from the video sample. Data will be recorded and coded according to all relevant behaviors as outlined above. A regression analysis will be conducted to determine the significance of changes in behavior and other patterns. Conclusions will be drawn on which changes are significant and which arc within the normal margin of error.
H. Application Restoration
The Portland Office of Transportation agrees to restore the site within three months following the end of the time period of the experiment and to terminate the experiment as required in Section 1A.10 if an traffic condition arises. If the experiment appears to be successful, however, the City of Portland Office of Transportation will request that the MUFCD be changed to include the Bike-in-Chevron shared lane marking in the next edition and that the shared lane marking remain in place.
I. Semiannual Progress Reports
The Portland Department of Transportation agrees to provide progress reports every three months of the experimentation of the Shared Lane Marking application and to provide a final report within three months after the end of the experimentation period.
Reference
(1) Alta Planning + Design (February 2004) San Francisco's Shared Lane Pavement Markings: Improving Bicycle Safety, Final Report. Prepared for the San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic.
(2) Ron Van.Houten and Cara Seiderman (January2005) How Pavement Markings Influence Bicycle and Motor Vehicle Positioning; A Case Study in Cambridge, MA. Prepared Version for Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 2006.
The goal for the project is to provide an option to bridge the gaps in developed bikeway and roadway corridors that arc classified City Bikeways. It is the desire of the City of Portland to use the Shared Lane Pavement markings on roadways after all other possibilities that would allow for marked bicycle lanes have been comprehensively explored. The shared lane pavement markings are an effort to provide safe and convenient conditions for bicycling on roads segments where conditions do not allow for marked bicycle lanes.
Respectfully,
PORTLAND OFF1CE OF TRANSPORTATION
Robert M .Burchfield
City Traffic Engineer
RB:cjh
enc: Letter or Support- Sam Adams
Letter of Support- Earl Blumenauer
Cc: Sam Adams, City of Portland -Commissioner
Earl Blumenauer, Representative
Roland Chlapowski, City of Portland-Policy Analyst
Commissioner Sam Adams
August 25; 2005
Portland City Council
Portland Department of Transportation
Office of Public Utilities
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Transportation Operations,
400 Seventh Street. SW, HOTO;
Washington, DC 20590
August 25, 2005
To: Federal Highway Administration
From: Commissioner Sam Adams, City of Portland
RE: City of Portland's Request to Experiment with "Sharrows"
Attached please find the City of Portland's request to experiment with shared lane pavement markings, or "sharrows." I hope you view the potential far these markings as we do here: enthusiastically. They hold the potential to better manage conditions on city streets and encourage bicyclists and motorists to share our streets in a manner that will be more comfortable and safer for everyone,
We have long been seeking a tool that would allow us to address what happens when one of our bicycle lanes ends because of constraints that we have neither the space nor finances to address with conventional roadway markings. Tested initially in this country in San Francisco, sharrows seem to make the roadways safer for cycling by getting cyclists out of the "door zone" of parked cars, and encouraging passing motorists to give bicyclists a wider berth when passing. Given our commitment to promote bicycling, we are encouraged by San, Francisco's experience and believe sharrows will be a significant addition to Portland's efforts to further increase bicycling in our city.
The City of Portland strongly supports the testing and pilot use of these markings and I encourage the Federal Highways Administration to approve this request expeditiously.
Sincerely,
Commission Sam
Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515-703
August 26, 2005.
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Transportation Operations
400 Seventh Street. SW, HOTO
Washington, DC 20590
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in support of the City of Portland's application to experiment with a new, type of bicycle marking: the shared lane pavement marking.
For-the past decade, Portland has had a strong commitment to creating safe and convenient conditions for bicycling in the city. The results of the city's efforts have been significant in terms of increasing ridership and making the bicycle a legitimate choice when residents are considering their transportation choices.
In developing their extensive network of bikeways, Portland has discovered areas where bicycle lanes are needed but cannot provided because of specific traffic operations or geographic constraints. These gaps in bicycle service diminish the utility of what are otherwise excellent bicycle facilities, acting as significant deterrents to those who wish to cycle. Portland has long sought a means to address these gaps in a manner that provides excellent service to, bicyclists while maintaining adequate service for other roadway users. With Portland believes that shared lane pavement markings can accomplish this.
Shared lane markings, long used throughout European cities and in some U.S. cities, have most recently been tested in San Francisco. Found to- improve operating conditions for cyclists in that city, San Francisco is now using shared lane markings on greater number of roadways. Portland wishes to expand upon San Francisco's success, provide further testing, and do it in a manner that leads to formal adoption in the MUTCD.
Given the potential of this new tool and Portland's ability to identify potential locations and conduct a formal test, I lend support to their application and-encourage the FHWA to expedite their request, to experiment, giving them all needed support.
Thank you for your consideration Sincerely, Earl Blumenauer Member of Congress
Department of Transportation
Traffic Engineering and Operations
355 Capitol St. NE, 5th Floor
Salem, Oregon 97301-3871
Phone (503) 986-3568
FAX (503) 986-4063
September 7, 2005
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Transportation Operations
400 7th Street SW, HOTO
Washington D.C. 20590
RE: Support for City of Portland's Request to Experiment with Shared Lane Pavement Markings
I am writing to express the Oregon Department of Transportation's support for the City of Portland's application to experiment with shared lane pavement markings for roadways that otherwise might be striped with bicycle lanes. ODOT staff has been briefed on their successful use in San Francisco, as well as on Portland's plan for where and how to apply them. I have reviewed Portland's draft warrants and evaluation criteria for the use of the "sharrows" and believe they are a good start for providing a rational and professional approach for determining where to use these markings. We concur with Portland's planned experiment and think this marking may have great potential to improve operating conditions on low volume and low speed shared lane environments. We will be interested in viewing results of Portland's experimental application because ODOT has roadways running through both urban and rural communities that could benefit from such a treatment if it proves successful.
I encourage you to approve Portland's application. Following preliminary results and further in-house discussion we may request to join in with their experiment in the future.
Thank you
Sincerely
Edward L. Fischer, P.E., PTOE
State Traffic Engineer
cc: Roland Chlapowski
Roger Geller
Matt Garrett
Charlie Sciscione
Dennis Mitchell
Stacy Codington