By Amy Jespersen
Summer is coming to an end and that means road construction projects around Price City will see completion with the painting of lines. This year will be a little different as residents and visitors will see the addition of bike lanes and “sharrows” added to some of the main routes around the city.
A committee consisting of the mayor, city council members, the public works director and employees, the streets department manager and community members was formed to decide how and where to add bike lanes. Taking examples from other cities around the state, including downtown Salt Lake City, the committee developed a plan for striping newly paved streets this month and adding bike lanes and sharrows to other routes around the city in the future.
Designated bike lanes will be added to 100 East, north of 100 North. This street is wide enough to allow for bike lanes, parking and lanes of travel as well as turn lanes. Streets like 300 East, north of 100 North, will be painted with sharrows. These streets are not wide enough to allow for the addition of designated bike lanes and keep on-street parking, travel lanes and turn lanes.
According to Bicycling magazine, “Sharrows are a positioning tool that tells cyclists where to ride to avoid both flung-open car doors and vehicles passing too closely. The sharrow also conveys information. It’s meant to help cyclists stick to recommended bike routes, avoid wrong-way riding and find gaps where a bike lane might temporarily disappear. It also alerts drivers to the likely presence of bikes, encouraging them to move a little farther to the left if they want to pass a cyclist.”
“It is the goal of the city and the committee to add bike lanes to encourage alternate modes of transportation, promote healthy lifestyles, and make Price City a safer place where bike riders and car drivers can peacefully co-exist,” said Price City Mayor Mike Kourianous.