8/2/2019 2012 04 20 Sharrows Dpw Meeting

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Bikeways Committeec/o Town Hall

59 Town Hall SqFalmouth, MA 02540

Peter McConarty, P.L.S.Town Engineer

Department of Public Works416 Gifford StreetFalmouth, MA 02540

20 April 2012

Dear Peter,

Thank you for taking the time to meet with Bikeways Committee members Edward Gross and Jonathan Murray

on April 19, 2012 to discuss the implementation of the Sharrows Pilot Project that Selectmen support. Currentdata supports your thinking that bringing bicyclists from the bike path to downtown will improve business andhelp make our community more easily and most importantly more safely, navigated by bicycle. Data indicates

that use of sharrows have reduced bicycle-car accidents by 50% in some areas. We agree that safety is of utmostimportance.

To summarize our meeting, the selectmen have instructed the Bikeways Committee to move forward to helpfacilitate implementation of Sharrows (MUTCD Section 9C.07), which are road markings that are used whenthere is not enough room for a standard bike lane. Sharrows act as guides to motorists so they are aware thatcyclists are likely to be on the road and that they should proceed with caution. Sharrows also assist cyclists with

safer lane positioning and to facilitate safe traffic flow. In conjunction with Sharrows, signs that state CyclistsMay Use Full Lane are normally deployed. Sharrows are being successfully used in Orleans and in mostcommunities looking to find ways to make cycling safer, boost businesses, and to make town routes more visibleand easier to use for many daily commuting cyclists.

Of the 12 roads on our list we discussed as possible candidates for sharrows, you agreed that Katherine LeeBates, Dillingham and Gifford to Thomas Landers would be most easily implemented by DPW. This wouldserve to connect the bike path to our customers in East Falmouth to the downtown areas and bike path. We

would also like to stress the importance of Dillingham to Springbars to Randolph as those roads are a extremelyimportant route for east/west travel, especially to the under served residents and visitors to the Maravista andHomestead Lane/Heritage Circle areas . Businesses in the Falmouth Trade Center are very positive about theidea.

We agree with your assertion that having sharrows on Main Street is probably best as it will encourage

shopping, use of the restaurants by hungry and thirsty cyclists and will also serve to calm traffic for a morerelaxed shopping and peaceful beach town experience for all our customers and residents alike. Perhaps thiscould be implemented after we finish the Sharrows Pilot Project this spring.

We will present this information to the Selectmen and move forward to work with you to set up a schedule forproject completion this spring. Thank you for your time and commitment to improving business conditions inFalmouth.

Best Regards,

Ed Gross, ChairmanJonathan Murray, Member

Falmouth Bikeways Committee