a woman rides her bike and a T trolley

Longwood Avenue Bicycle Priority Lanes

Installation completed May 20, 2010; dashed lines were laid down in November, 2009, but winter's arrival prevent installation of the bike symbols until spring.

This is the first ever application of a Bicycle Priority Lane using dashed lines to delineate the bicycling zone. It uses intermittent markings. Each sharrow (bike silhouette topped by a double chevron) is bracketed on either side by dashed lines with 4 dashes, 2 ft on / 4 ft off, making each set 20 ft long. The sets are 100 ft apart on center. The 80 ft break between sets is small enough that one can always see the next set, giving the impression of a continuous lane. The dashed lines lie 10 and 15 ft from the curb.

Before installation, the centerline divided the 35-ft wide road into a 13 ft eastbound lane and a 22 ft westbound travel + parking lane. The centerline was shifted two feet to create enough space eastbound for a bike lane; westbound then got a Bicycle Priority Lane. The new roadway allocation is 5 ft bike lane / 10 ft EB travel lane / 20 ft WB travel + parking lane, with a Bicycle Priority Lane in the WB lane with lines 10 and 15 ft from the curb.