The Sharrows are coming, the Sharrows are coming

Introduced in 2011, as a pilot, sharrows will become a familiar sight on Burlington roads.  285 sharrows will be added to city streets as part of the city's Cycling Master Plan.


"The sharrow's main purpose is to give bicyclists freedom to move further to the left within travel lane, rather than brave the door zone, squeezed between moving and parked cars. Without such markings, bicyclists might seek refuge on the sidewalk or travel in the wrong direction. The overall goals are: to improve the position of bicyclists and motorists on roads without bike lanes, reduce aggressive motorist behavior, encourage correct bicycling behavior and increase the comfort of (and therefore the number of) bicyclists on shared roads [Streetswiki].
Roads with sharrows constitute Class III bike routes, a “step down” from Class II routes with designated bike lanes. These city streets can be part of a bicycle network, but may have higher motorist traffic than bicycle boulevards."

A list of streets can be found in this Burlington Post article.  A variety of people have noticed more cyclists on Burlington streets this summer.  The cycling revolution found in cities around the world is continuing in Burlington!

Letterman for a day, er blog.

Depending where you live in Burlington, you may not know what improvements have been made to our cycling infrastructure in the last 11 months of 2010.

The top  10 improvements brought to you by the new Transportation Services Department (TSD) at city hall, the BCC & others in Burlington:
 
10.  The BCC hosted the largest gathering of bike committees ever held in Ontario.  They came from KW, Guelph, Cambridge, Chatham, Niagara, Halton, Hamilton and Mississauga.  We shared plans, victories, failures and were energized, capping it off with a fabulous ride through Burlington. Thank you John H. & Barron.

10 b  Steve opened the Waterfront Trail Leisure Company, a fantastic addition to our downtown core.  Thanks Steve!

Leah was a workhorse!

John has the Guiness record for most installed bells.

9.  Bike Week.  Lids for Kids.  Kudos to Halton Regional police for organizing this event and fitting over 250 bike helmets.  The BCC installed bells, the Road Safety group gave out reflectors and Chris from Brant cycle gave his usual superman effort repairing many kid bikes.  Thanks to ALL who made a difference!

8.  Bike Week at Spenser Smith.  In spite of the rain & cold weather, MEC had a great bike event at Spenser Smith Park.  Thank you MEC gang for keeping this event going.  The new 2010 Burlington cycling map made its premiere at this event.  Thanks Dan for getting the map out ON TIME, as promised!

7.  New bike shelters at Tansley Woods & Brant Hills.

6.  Sharrows are here!  They really stand out!  Sharrows on alternative streets such as Dury Lane, Caroline St. Prospect. 

5.  Centennial and Headon hydro corridors have been paved.  Running across the city, these are a safe way to get across Burlington from Brant to Beswick in the north & just east of Appleby Line in the south.  Get out there & enjoy em!

4.  6.5km of new bike lanes!  Look for them at North Service Road, Maple, Harvester, Appleby Road.

3.  In Burlington, but considered part of Halton's domain, 3km of bike lanes were added on BurlOak from the QEW north onto Upper Middle then west.  Doesn't matter who gets credit as long as it's a new bike lane.  Now we need to work on the overpass.

2.  Completion of the new safer on ramp at Fairview & the QEW complete with coloured bike lanes & jug handles for the less intrepid sidewalk cyclist and a host of other safety measures.  Thank you Tom E., Vito & Dan at city hall.

1.  Burlington hosted the 2010 Ontario Bike Summit.  Our politicians heard about the benefits of cycling from luminaries such as Mayor Sam Adams (Portland), MTO's Kathleen Wynne, JF Courville of MFC and many others advocating safer cycling in Ontario. (View pictures from the Ride and the Ontario Bike Summit below.  For more details, click on the picture.)  Thank you Eleanor.
 

Thanks CoB, especially Dan, & the BCC team under Rob N. & Danielle for helping to make Burlington a safer place to cycle & a better place to live in!

If I've missed any, let me know.  Don't hesitate to forward this email to others in your network.  They need to know the great stuff happening in Burlington!  Thanks

The SHARROWS are coming, the SHARROWS are coming.

Caroline St. SHARROWS

To a street near you!  

On the third day my wife noticed them & asked what they were & why?

Click on the picture & you will clearly see the SHARROWS on both sides of Caroline Street at the Pearl St. crossing.

SHARROWS are commonly used where roads are not wide enough for bike lanes. The distinctive markings remind drivers to share the road with cyclists and are a key component in traffic calming.  Much appreciated on a heavily traveled car & bike street like Caroline.

The Caroline St. SHARROWS run from Drury Lane to the Hydro Corridor.