Alerting bicyclists with painted symbols

You may have noticed these painted bicycle images put down on some of the side streets this past month. These markings on Mary Street take the bikers from Grand Avenue all the way to Bird Avenue.

They are called "sharrows" or shared lane pavement markings. They're new to Florida but are common in San Francisco, New York and Denver. The sharrows were approved in the 2009 Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices and are finally starting to appear around South Florida.

They are not designated bicycle lanes, but lanes markings that direct bicyclists where to be within the roadway and the direction in which to travel.

There will be signs installed soon to go with the street markings.

"These symbols are used when a lane is too narrow for a bicycle and car to share the lane side by side safely. Sharrows are part of a series of tools to help make Miami a more bicycle friendly city," says Collin Worth, Bicycle Coordinator/Special Projects Assistant for the City of Miami's Capital Improvements Program.

Collin is working with the County Metropolitan Planning Orginzation to create an awareness campaign that will help clarify the symbols. You'll see them currently in the Roads section, areas of South Beach and in the Brickell area.