City to Install "Share the Road Arrows" or "Sharrows" to Improve Roadway Safety for School Bike Routes

In the coming weeks, the City of Mill Valley plans to install a series of painted Share the Road Arrows – better known as “Sharrows” – along segments of Sycamore and Locust Avenues and La Goma Street, which are recognized as Safe Routes to School and identified in the 2008 Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan as City bike routes. Public Works crews will also install “School Route” signage at several locations along these roads.

The dates of installation are still to be determined. Once scheduled, the work should take one or two days, and will take place on a weekday between 9 am and 5 pm.

Before the sharrows are installed, the City would like to share information about what exactly sharrows are and what they mean.

What are “Sharrows”?
At their most basic level, sharrows indicate to bicyclists and motorists that the roadway is shared by bikes and cars. Additionally, the sharrow indicates that a bicyclist may use the full lane of a road, either because the road is too narrow for a car and a bicycle to travel safely side by side or to reduce the chance of colliding with the open door of a parked vehicle.

Sharrows do not add or change any of the rules of the road. The rights and obligations of cyclists and motorists remains the same. Sharrows alert motorists that bicyclists are likely to be traveling within the lane, encourage safe passing of bicyclists by motorists, and reduce the incidence of wrong-way bicycling.

Studies have shown that streets with sharrows increase separation between motor vehicles and bicyclists, encourage cyclists to ride outside the door-strike zone, and may reduce wrong-way and sidewalk cycling, which are associated with increased crash risk.

The use of sharrows was approved in August 2004 by the California Traffic Control Devices Committee, and approved for general use in the 2009 edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. Over the years, the concept of sharrows has been put into place in cities across the United States and in Australia, Canada, Spain and New Zealand.

Sharrows in Mill Valley

Mill Valley has sharrows painted on Ashford Avenue in the Alto neighborhood and on parts of Miller Avenue. Sharrows are also found on streets elsewhere in Marin County, many on two-lane roads, like Sycamore Avenue, where there is not room for a full bike lane.

The new sharrows are planned for installation along Sycamore Avenue between Camino Alto and Locust Avenue, on Locust Avenue between Sycamore Avenue and Miller Avenue, and La Goma Street between Sycamore Avenue and Miller Avenue. (See map below.)

This route has been used for many years by recreational cyclists traveling to and from the Mill Valley-Sausalito Multi-Use Path, and by students riding to and from Mill Valley Middle School and Tam High. The route enables these riders to bypass the busy, commercial area on Miller Avenue. This route was identified by the community during the 2008 update of the Mill Valley Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan as an existing route that deserved better markings to alert motorists to watch for bikes.

The Department of Public Works has recently completed a Safe Routes to School project that improves the bicycle and pedestrian paths on Sycamore Avenue in front of the Middle School, connecting to the Mill Valley-Sausalito Multi-Use Path. DPW has also recently made improvements to the bike lane on the upper stretch of Miller Avenue by the Mill Valley Lumber Yard. With these projects completed, the route along Sycamore Avenue will connect downtown with the City’s school sites and the Multi-Use Path.

If you have questions or comments, please contact Scott Schneider, City of Mill Valley Senior Civil Engineer at (415) 384-4818 or sschneider@cityofmillvalley.org.

The new sharrows are planned for installation along Sycamore Avenue between Camino Alto and Locust Avenue, on Locust Avenue between Sycamore Avenue and Miller Avenue, and La Goma Street between Sycamore Avenue and Miller Avenue.