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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
City installing experimental street markings
Coming soon to a road near you: Painted street markings and signs designed to help cyclists and motorists co-exist more peacefully.
Based on the response from an earlier blog about the city’s proposed 3-foot passing ordinance, we could use a little cooperation.
The City of Austin and the University of Texas Center for Transportation Research are partnering to study four experimental bicycle transportation devices — shared lane markings called “sharrows,” colored bicycle lanes, signs and bicycle boxes.
Installation of the devices begins today (weather permitting) and should be finished by the end of October.
The signs and markings should remind motorists they are driving on routes heavily used by bicycles.
They include:
- Bicycles May Take Full Travel Lane signs: Northbound Lamar Boulevard, from Lamar Square to Barton Springs Road; and southbound Pleasant Valley Road, from Lakeshore Boulevard to 7th Street.
- Bicycle boxes: Southbound Shoal Creek Boulevard at Anderson Lane; and northbound and southbound lanes of Speedway at 38th Street.
- Colored bicycle lanes: Northbound San Jacinto Boulevard and Duval Road; and westbound Dean Keaton Street at Interstate 35.
- Shared Lane markings (“Sharrows”): Guadalupe Street and Lavaca Street, between Cesar Chavez Boulevard and MLK Jr. Boulevard.; 51st Street from Interstate 35 to Airport Boulevard; eastbound and westbound Dean Keaton Street at Interstate 35 and between San Jacinto and Guadalupe Street.
The Mayor’s 2007 Street Smarts Task Force and the 2009 City of Austin Bicycle Master Plan recommended the study. Depending on results, the City of Austin may keep the devices in place beyond the current experimental timeline.
For more information on the City of Austin Bicycle Program, go here.
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Lance Armstrong talks Leadville on the big screen
Brace yourselves, cycling fans. It’ll be all Lance Armstrong all the time around here for the next few days.
Besides the LiveStrong Challenge and all that entails this weekend, you can watch Lance on the big screen Thursday when a panel discussion of the Leadville Trail 100 bike race airs at area movie theaters.
The seven-time Tour de France champion, along with six-time defending Leadville Trail 100 champion Dave Wiens, cycling coach Chris Carmichael, and other elite and amateur cyclists, will discuss training, conditioning tips and the personal challenges they faced in the grueling race in the documentary “Race Across the Sky.”
Armstrong won the race this year, despite a flat tire in the final 10 miles of the race.
The Leadville Trail 100 began as a running race 27 years ago to draw tourism to Leadville, Colo. A mountain bike race was added in 1994 and now draws some 1,000 cyclists. The course includes 14,000 vertical feet of climbing on dirt trails, mining roads and Forest Service roads.
The discussion was recorded in Durango, Colo., on Oct. 20. It airs at 7 p.m. Thursday at Tinseltown USA Pflugerville, 15436 FM 1825; Cinemark Hill Country Galleria, 12800 W Highway 71, Bee Cave; Cinemark Southpark Meadows, 9900 S. Interstate 35; Cinemark Cedar Park, 1335 E. Whitestone Blvd, Cedar Park; and Metropolitan 14, 901 Little Texas Lane. Tickets are $12.50 and are available at the box office or online at www.FathomEvents.com.
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