What would make good routes for Sharrows?

Atlanta has an opportunity to be at the forefront of cycling. Although we're not banning automobiles from all surface streets just yet, there are only a handful of municipalities in the US that are considering sharrows.

What are these innovative lane markings for cyclists?

The Wikipedia article for Shared lane marking (or sharrows) describes sharrows as markings on a road where the lane is too narrow for a bike lane or the bike lane would put cyclists in the "door zone" of parked cars. They indicate the location on the pavement where cyclists are expected to travel (typically about where the right wheel of a motor vehicle would be).

The intent is to mark favorable bike routes and help both motorists and cyclists understand the best lane position for a cyclist to maintain when the lane isn't suitable for bike lanes. Atlanta has a number of good roads for cyclists that are a little narrow for bike lanes. Sharrows are the proposed way to indicate those routes.

I had put together some criteria for choosing appropriate roads in Atlanta that would be suitable for an initial set of sharrows:

• Minor thoroughfare with substantial, but not heavy traffic;
  
• Single travel lane too narrow for bike lanes;
  
• On-street parking;
  
• Intersects with other facilities (planned or actual).
  

For initial selections, the following criteria will improve the chances of acceptance by both motorists and cyclists:

• Already has substantial bike traffic;
  
• High visibility;
  
• Pleasant route regardless of what it connects. In other words, the route can be its own cycling destination.
  

It was several months ago that I posted about sharrows. Since then, the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition has started talking with the City of Atlanta about a pilot program to introduce sharrows within the city. Starting with the criteria above, we've proposed a few routes:



This website allows browsing the map and getting more detail about the routes. The website will be updated as we generate more proposals for routes.

I'm interested in hearing your suggestions for either routes or criteria for selecting a route. The routes listed are examples we'd like to expand upon.