© 2024 WVIK
Listen at 90.3 FM and 98.3 FM in the Quad Cities, 95.9 FM in Dubuque, or on the WVIK app!
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Government

"Sharrows" Appear Along Moline Streets

City of Moline

Hoping to make the city "friendlier" to bicycle riders, Moline is marking several city streets with a special symbol. The bicycle and double chevron, known as a "sharrow," is supposed to indicate where bikes and cars can share the lanes.

Design Engineer Matt Moore says ideally there would be separate bike lanes.

"We're not able to acquire right-of-way easily . That would have been a lot more involved prcesss. So painting or designating specific bike lanes in existing pavement - it's a cost-effective compromise."

Moore says after consulting with local riders, the sharrows are being painted along two east-west routes - 12th Avenue and Coal Town Road - and three north-south routes - 60th, 41st, and 14th to 16th Street.

And he wants to remind motorists in Moline that state law gives bike riders the same rights as motorists to driving lanes on city streets.

"One of the bigger concerns that we have is drivers coming up behind a slower moving bicycle and in that case they should treat it just as a slower moving vehicle. So you should wait for a safe opportunity to pass legally, just as if it were a car."

Moore says crews will paint sharrows every 200 feet along the designated routes, for a total of about 1,000 along 20 miles of city streets. 

Several years ago sharrows were painted along the bike path in Moline between the Stoney Creek Inn and water treatment plant. 

Tags
A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.