I want to make you aware of an important meeting for the public coming soon which will have significant implications for the cycling community and the transportation infrastructure in Colorado Springs.  The meeting is Monday, May 2^nd at 5:30 pm in City Council Chambers in City Hall. 

The City is introducing the Shared Lane Marking (known as “Share The Road Arrows” or “Sharrows”) to the streets of Colorado Springs through a grant opportunity, bike tax funding and private fundraising by Tim Leigh.  The Sharrow is a traffic control device used to designate the proper location of where cyclists should ride when in the roadway, connect bike corridors and encourage safer interactions between vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists alike.  The Sharrows are proven to encourage more consistent and safer cycling behavior on routes where cyclists are choosing to ride. 

There are two pilot corridors being proposed right now, including 30^th Street from Colorado to Centennial (made possible by grant and bike tax funding), and from the velodrome, through the downtown to West Colorado Springs past Old Colorado City along Hancock, Pikes Peak and Colorado (made possible by private fundraising by Tim Leigh and in-kind donation of City equipment and employee installation time). 

This meeting is incredibly important and we need a good representation of the entire community present for this meeting to learn and engage in thoughtful community dialogue about “Sharrows”.  CONO has engaged in outreach (below) and so has the Organization of West Side Neighbors.  There have recently been negative interpretations of shared lane markings by the West Side Pioneer because of some misinterpretations about the markings and a perceived lack of public outreach—which is why this meeting is so important.  Education and outreach was always a critical part of our roll-out of Sharrows, and this meeting is the first of many educational and outreach efforts planned over the coming months.

We are actively trying to get the word out to everyone to ensure a successful launch on this program. We hope that there will be the voices of our entire community represented in the room as this is a new traffic control device for Colorado Springs.  I will be presenting on this topic on this Monday to our newly elected council to (hopefully) gain support and bring them up to speed.  I have attached an FAQ on Sharrows and if you know someone who drives, cycles or lives in Colorado Springs—or may just be interested in what these markings are, and the opportunities they can create for a more connected community, please pass this FAQ along to them.  The hope is through an educational outreach and with support from our community, we can begin connecting other key cycling corridors around Colorado Springs soon, similar to other cities up and down the front range and across the country. 

Please consider joining us for this very important meeting and encouraging others to join the discussion as well.  We want a robust education process as we go forward and we need your support to spread the word.  Thank you and I hope this finds you well on a Saturday!

Nick Kittle

Public Works Team Leader

City of Colorado Springs

CORRECTION: The May 2nd meeting is at 5:30 p.m. not 6:00 p.m.

On 4/19/2011 9:56 AM, Contact CONO wrote:

CONO 

OWN, CONO, and City staff will be hosting a meeting on the City's plan to implement shared lane marking projects (sharrows) for the Pikes Peak/Colorado Avenue and the 30th Street corridors. The meeting will be on May 2nd in the City Council Chambers in City Hall at 6:00 p.m. This will be an open forum in which City staff will make a presentation on sharrows and then we will have a Question and Answer session. Everyone is encouraged to attend, learn about sharrows, consider and discuss their possible neighborhood impact, and express your opinions. OWN's neighborhoods are planned for a pilot implementation and then the plan is to go citywide. 

This meeting is in response to OWN's concern about lack of neighborhood input (echoed by CONO) and the desire of City staff, the Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) and the CDOT Share the Road Task Force for Colorado Springs to conduct a public education campaign. 

Also, there will be a Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting on April 26th in which an update of the Share the Road project (30th Street Sharrow installation) will be provided to the committee.  This is an open meeting in which anyone may attend. The meeting begins at 5:30 and will be held at the Parks and Recreation Board meeting room. 

John