9(09)-38 (E) – Green Colored Pavement for Shared Lane Marking — City of Oakland, CA

City of Oakland's Request to Experiment Cover Letter

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City of Oakland
250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
Oakland, California 94612-2033

Public Works Agency
Vitaly B. Troyan, P.E.
Agency Director

October 25, 2012

Mr. Bruce Friedman
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Transportation Operations
1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., HOTO-1
Washington, Dc 20590

Mr. Jeff Knowles
California Traffic Control Devices Committee
c/o City of Vacaville, Public Works Department
650 Merchant St.
Vacacille, CA 95688

Subject: Request to Experiment with Green & Shared Roadway Bicycle Markings, Oakland, CA

Dear Mr. Friedman and Mr. Knowles:

The City of Oakland requests permission to experiment with green color on the pavement surface as a traffic control device in conjunction with the shared roadway bicycle marking (sharrow). The purpose of the pilot is to confirm whether we may improve traffic operations on multi-lane urban arterials and collectors frequented by bicyclists. The experiment is proposed for 40th Street between Adeline Street and Webster Street in proximity of the MacArthur BART Transit Station and Transit Village development.

Existing traffic control devices do not provide sufficient guidance to roadway users on the safe and legal path of travel for bicyclists in shared lane situations. To date, experiments in Salt Lake City, Long Beach, and Minneapolis have addressed this issue by installing bands of green color pavement in conjunction with sharrows. The Oakland experiment will further develop this knowledge base with a phased implementation of standard traffic control devices plus the experimental treatment. The experiment includes video data collection and statistical analysis to examine behavioral change.

This experiment will advance professional understanding on design solutions for multi-lane urban streets where bicycle lanes are not possible despite significant numbers of bicyclists. We look forward to partnering with the Federal Highway Administration and the California Traffic Control Devices Committee on this important effort. For questions regarding this request, contact Jason Patton, Bicycle & Pedestrian Program Manager (51 0-238-7049, ipatton@oaklandnet.com).

Sincerely,

Vitaly B. Troyan, P.E.
Director, Public Works Agency

cc: Devinder Singh, Caltrans Division of Traffic Operations (CTCDC)
Deborah Lynch, Caltrans Office of Special & Discretionary Programs (CBAC)