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.