Bicycle Infrastructure

Boston Introduces “Super Sharrows”

Behold, Boston's new "super sharrows," a spin on the often-derided shared-lane marking. Boston's new twist is meant to give the feel of a bike lane, even when the space for one is lacking. The official term for this street treatment is "priority shared-lane markings," and they were debuted in the last few weeks on Boston's Brighton Avenue.

By Angie Schmitt

2:14 PM EST on November 21, 2013

Brighton Avenue in Allston is sporting some new "super sharrows." Image: ##http://www.boston.com/news/local/blogs/starts-and-stops/2013/11/20/boston-bikes-debuts-sharrows-steroids/PXrtrx9c1YO6T0JOCn3vFJ/blog.html## Boston.com## — Brighton Avenue in Allston is sporting some new “super sharrows.” Image: ##http://www.boston.com/news/local/blogs/starts-and-stops/2013/11/20/boston-bikes-debuts-sharrows-steroids/PXrtrx9c1YO6T0JOCn3vFJ/blog.html## Boston.com##

Behold, Boston’s new “super sharrows,” a spin on the often-derided shared-lane marking. Boston’s new twist is meant to give the feel of a bike lane, even when the space for one is lacking. The official term for this street treatment is “priority shared-lane markings,” and they were debuted in the last few weeks on Boston’s Brighton Avenue.

City Bike Czar Nicole Freedman told the Boston Globe that only a few cities in the country have tested this kind of bike marking, which was first proposed by civil engineering professor Peter Furth in a 2009 research paper.

What do you guys think? Would this make you feel safer or more confident?

Angie Schmitt

Angie is a Cleveland-based writer with a background in planning and newspaper reporting. She has been writing about cities for Streetsblog for six years.

Bicycle Infrastructure | Boston

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