The Princeton Packet: PRINCETON: Sharrows being installed in Princetons
DATE POSTED: Monday, August 22, 2011
By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
Sharrows, or shared lane markings, are being installed this week on roadways in the two Princetons.
The process began on Monday morning on Witherspoon Street in front of the Township Municipal Complex.
The thermoplastic markings will allow bicycle riders and drivers to “share the road” along the area’s streets that are too narrow for separate bike lanes. They will also help make drivers more aware of bicyclists on the narrow roads and prevent “dooring.”
Dooring is when a bicyclist is riding along a parked car and the door of the car opens and hits the cyclists, which sometimes throws them into traffic and can cause fatalities.
Sharrows notify drivers that bike traffic is to be expected. They encourage cyclists to use the roadway and to ride with the flow of traffic, rather than against it. They also assist on streets too narrow for a motor vehicle and a bicycle to travel side by side within the same lane of traffic and encourage safe passing of bicyclists by motor vehicles.
Nassau Street will be marked from Route 206 to Snowden Lane. Markings will also be placed on Wiggins Street and Hamilton Avenue in the borough. In the township, the markings will be placed on Harrison Street to Mount Lucas Road.
Harrison and Witherspoon Street will be marked their entire lengths.
A maximum of 87 symbols will be installed in the borough; and the State Department of Transportation will install additional 60 on Nassau Street. Approximately 72 will be installed on the township roadways.
Traffic Lines Inc. of Farmingdale will be doing the work for the two municipalities.
