Do It: Markings help bicyclists, cars share road

The outline of a bicycle with some type of arrow is stenciled on miles of Rochester roads, clearly visible to cyclists and motorists.

It's not until you pedal over them that you really understand what they mean — at that moment and later when you're in a car driving past other cyclists.

"We're all travelers together," said Scott Wagner, board member of the Rochester Cycling Club. "We want to be courteous to each other."

It's one thing to bump into someone on a sidewalk and say, "Excuse me." It's a little late to apologize if that happens on the road.

Bike lanes that are separated by a white line and marked with a bicycle, and shared-use lanes with a bicycle and "sharrow" chevron arrows try to prevent such collisions by alerting motorists to the presence of bicycles, and helping the bike rider to stay predictable and visible.

In advance of Rochester Bike Week, May 10-16, Wagner took me on a ride from downtown through the South Wedge to College Town and back to show a casual cyclist how these road markings can help cars and bikes get along.

Even though bike lanes and sharrows have been around for a few years, Wagner said there still are misunderstandings on the part of drivers and bicyclists.

Basically, if there is a marked bike lane, the cyclist needs to stay in it and the car can't go there — with a few exceptions such as an emergency stop or to get to a legal parking place. The driver has to yield to the bicyclist. With a sharrow, the cyclist should bisect the arrows and keep a straight line of travel.

Erik Frisch, transportation specialist with the city said motorists have to expect bicyclists on all roads, and like drivers, they must follow traffic laws. That means stopping at stop signs and red lights, and yielding to pedestrians. Bicyclists are required to ride with traffic, not headlong into it, and can position themselves in the center of the travel if they feel that is the safest place.

"Keep in mind, these are your friends, your neighbors, your mothers, your fathers, your sons and daughters," Frisch said. "These are people with lives and families. They're not road hazards. They are people who are exercising their right to use the roads."

National trends support the theory that bike lanes and sharrows make riding safer. Frisch said the city has been using them for a few years and will start to study their effect on crashes when it updates its bicycle master plan, starting next year.

Riding the bike lanes still means cyclists have to watch for car doors opening and vehicles pulling out of parking spots. It also means planning for when the lane runs out at an intersection and you have to merge into the traffic, or you lose the protection of the lane where cars want to make turns.

However, the city plans to add more bike lanes and sharrows this year — which would bring the total to approximately 70 lane miles.

Wagner said that bicycles are becoming more a part of urban transportation, but they are not trying to replace the car. "We won't impede anyone else if we all cooperate," he said. "Cooperation first means understanding."

PSINGER@DemocratandChronicle.com

The city has 30 lane miles exclusively for bicycles, with more planned for this year. The lanes are for bicycle travel only. Not all are painted green; the color is optional and is used to draw attention to the lane at intersections or where vehicles and bicycles have to cross travel lanes, such as where there is a right-turn lane.

The city has experimented with different types of green markings. It tried paint, but it wore out. It is using thermoplastic sheeting that is melted to the asphalt and also testing a product called CycleGrip, which shows promise of standing up to the elements.

Erik Frisch, transportation specialist with the city, said even with a better solution, green likely would be used only in selected areas — high traffic areas or intersections with the bike lane crosses a turn lane — to keep everyone alert. He said the green pavement makes bicyclists feel safer and keeps them well positioned in the lane. At the same time, motorists said they feel more comfortable at intersections with the green lanes.

Bike lanes on some streets, such as this westbound lane on Court Street, allow cyclists to bike against the flow of one-way vehicle traffic. If there are no bike lanes in either direction, a bicyclist has to ride with traffic. Riding against traffic, except in what's called a "designated contraflow" bike lane, can increase the chance of a collision because it decreases the time that either the driver or cyclist has to react and makes the cyclist's actions unpredictable.

Rick Defone applies heat to seal a green thermoplastic sheet to the road as part of a bike lane on Court Street. Allen Lazarevski and Matt Cerame apply glue to the road in preparation for another rectangle. The crew from C&A Pavement Marking, Inc. was applying bike lane markers on several downtown streets over the past few weeks.

Matt Cerame of C&A Pavement Marking Inc. places a thermoplastic sheet on Court Street to create an eastbound bike lane. Crew members Rick Defone, front, Bill Cerame, left and Allen Lazarevski will apply heat to melt the sheet to the road. The city is experimenting with different markings to find ones that withstand the winter.

The dashed green bike lane heading east on Court Street mimics the broken white traffic lines that alert motorists to a new lane coming up, in this case a right-turn only lane to go south on Chestnut Street.

The dashed green tells bicyclists to expect cars will cross into the right-turn lane. At the same time, the green pavement warns drivers of the presence and position of bicycles. When crossing the bike lane, cars must yield to cyclists.

Some bike lanes, such as this one on Exchange Boulevard heading downtown, are marked by the stencil and arrow to signal the direction of travel. Democrat and Chronicle Clean Living reporter Patti Singer rides to the right side of bike lane, while cycling advocate Scott Wagner rides to the left of it. Wagner said that riding on the left of the bike lane keeps him farther away from road hazards such as grates or debris.

There are some instances where a car can enter the bike lane, but vehicles must yield to bicyclists. Cars cannot park in a bike lane and have to yield to bicyclists when crossing a bike lane to park legally at a curb. In an emergency, a motorist can pull over into the bike lane and put on flashers after making sure the lane is free of bicyclists.

A bicyclist waits in the bike lane on Ford Street at the intersection of Mt. Hope Avenue for the light to change. This intersection has a bike box, a rectangle between the stop line and the cross walk. The boxes give cyclists a safe place to stop at a light, and bicyclists can be seen more easily by drivers to avoid a side collision. If a cyclist is first to the light, the rider can readily take the position in the box. Cyclists who arrive at a light after cars are already lined up may proceed on the right to the bike box, or it may be safer to stay in line and proceed legally through the intersection when it's their turn. The box has a stencil of a cyclist but the paint has faded, so the rider may not be aware of the box. Erik Frisch, transportation specialist for the city, said some paint has not stood up to the elements and the city is experimenting with more robust pavement treatments.

This stretch of South Avenue is among the 22 lane miles of existing shared use lanes in Rochester. The city plans to add seven miles of shared-use lanes this year. The sharrow symbol — a bicycle and two chevron-style arrows — tells motorists that bicyclists also will be in the lane. Democrat and Chronicle Clean Living reporter Patti Singer is following cycling advocate Scott Wagner over the point of the arrows. Wagner says to stay on the sharrow, which will keep cyclists on a predictable path where drivers can see them. He said that weaving in and out of parked cars is dangerous to cyclists and to drivers, who may be surprised when a cyclist suddenly appears.

Helpful links

For information about biking in Rochester, including safety and a map of on-street bicycle facilities and trails, go to www.cityofrochester.gov/bikerochester

For Bike Week events, go to www.cityofrochester.gov/bikeweek/

To read about a project to create bike boulevards, go to www.cityofrochester.gov/bikeblvd

For traffic laws that govern bicycling, go to https://www.dot.ny.gov/display/programs/bicycle/faq