cudak888 

WOL = wide outer lane, left of the solid white line.

Sharrow = street w/bike+car signage:


Landscape panel = New one on me.

-Kurt

Road Fan

Thanks, we have some of those in Ann Arbor. We also have a lot of wide outer lanes.

I like the wide outer lanes. Some sort of bicycle provision is required in our county for all road resurfacing, new construction, or other road servicing. Use of the new facilities is not regulated. But, the bike part of the lane is marked by a solid white line, which establishes that cars are not to cross it. Now drivers do what they want, but most do not want to break the law or endanger people. The widened lane is a nice enough place to ride as long a bike density doesn't get too large.

The solid line really does imply that cyclists once in the bike area are not to cross the line, but there also are standing laws that cyclists a) must ride as close to the right as practicable, and b) are permitted and expected on the public roads. I think cyclists are free to use the car space when necessary in order to continue reasonable travel. At least I haven't heard of any citations for cyclist violations in Ann Arbor.

Road Fan

I think that's based on cyclists being seen as a mass of individuals who don't pay. Of course that's not true, but neighborhoods and subdivisions have tax bases, city council representatives, and construction company lobbying (read, job preservation arguments) to use as leverage in zoning/road usage review boards. Besides, neighborhoods often want to add "traffic calming" measures to the roads they are close to, in hopes of making it safer for kids to play and be outdoors. We're up against powerful opponents.

A possible solution to this is weight-based bike or rider licensing for "adult" riders. Then we'd be a quantifiable constituency who pays our way. We already pay our way for our car-based use of the roads.

The Human Car

Landscape panel = the area between the road and the sidewalk used for landscape.

In some cases they replace WOL's or bikeable shoulders.

Totoro

Drivers around here just ignore sharrows anyway. One time I had a driver in an SUV honk at me because she needed to cross the sharrow to exit and she didn't want to wait 2 seconds for me to get out of her way. Not that honking made me go any faster. Some people are just plain stupid.

boneshake

League of American Bicyclists and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy are who you should keep in touch with. They will likely be coordinating any lobbying action and telling cyclists what they can do.

But it's likely that most of the projects funded will the ones that are "shovel-ready" - already through the planning and approval stages and just waiting for money.

Road Fan

In Michigan the landscape panel is often called a "verge."

cudak888 

A driver that ignores a sharrow will ignore a bike lane as well, and for that matter, a bicyclist. The primary benefit of the sharrow markings are to: #1: Keep the less aggressive motorists quiet, and, #2: Reinforce the general laws of legal shared lane use to law enforcement officers responding to a collision or aggressive motorist.

That said, I dare say that said motorist would have honked just the same if you were another SUV. JAM's do not discriminate - they will honk at anything that they perceive is in their way, whether their complaint is justified or not. That includes, but is not limited to: Pedestrians, cyclists, motorbikes, cars, trucks, delivery vans, tractor-trailers, trains, Space Shuttle transporters, roadwork crews, dogs, cats, mice, rats, snakes, their firstborn child, etc.

-Kurt