The 200 South Street bike lanes in Salt Lake City extend a distance of approximately 3.9 miles from the University of Utah, through downtown, to the Jordan River Trail. The bike lanes are continuous except for a one block section downtown between Main St. and State St. A parking garage entrance/exit ramp on this block makes the street too narrow to add bike lanes. As a result, bicyclists must share the 12’ outside lanes with automobiles while traversing the block. Since a 12’ lane is too narrow for a motorist to pass a bicyclist within the lane while providing 3′ of clearance as required by law, motorists should not attempt to pass bicyclists in the same travel lane on this block.
Salt Lake City has been working with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to conduct a Shared Lane Markings experiment. The purpose of Shared Lane Markings is to remind motorists that bicyclists have the legal right to position themselves in the center of a travel lane when the lane is too narrow for a bicycle and automobile to safely travel side by side within the lane. The markings consist of a 4’ wide green stripe in the center of the outside lane. White bike & chevron shared lane symbols have been painted at regular intervals on the top of the green stripe. The 4’ width was chosen to keep the colored area inside of the wheel tracks and lessen the wear of car tires on the green epoxy paint.
Unlike other cities which have experimented with shared lane markings, Salt Lake City’s experiment differs by the use of a green stripe centered in the travel lane instead of along the right edge of the lane. The city feels that the solid color stripe will further help to enforce the idea that bicyclists should lawfully ride in the center of the travel lane when conditions warrant. The green coloring is a highly durable, slip resistant coating specially developed for bicycle lanes. Data collected before and after the installation of the markings showed that bicyclists assumed a more central lateral position in the roadway. The city hopes to work with the FHWA to make the markings permanent and expand their use in the downtown area. Since the initial experiment on 200 South Street, Salt Lake City has done similar treatments on Main St. and South Temple St. in the downtown area.