Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission members this week approved new sharrows – street markings indicating that bicycles and cars share the road – for Dixie Trail.
The new markings will go in north of Wade Avenue to Lake Boone Trail. Commissioners opted for sharrows instead of bicycle lanes because 
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The addition of sharrows to the winding West Raleigh street will not require City Council approval, which is only necessary with bike lanes because the lanes take away parking.
City transportation manager Eric Lamb told the Record that sharrows are more like marketing. He said the markings help make drivers aware that they need to share the road with cyclists and show bicycle riders where they should be in the travel lane.
The new sharrows are part of a push to add at least 27 miles of bike lanes and other bicycle-friendly road projects during the next two years. A $1.1 million federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant is paying for the projects, but it will only pay for road-striping projects.
Lamb said the city will likely add more like 30 miles of bicycle markings to Raleigh’s streets and come within the budget for the federal grant.
Work on the Dixie Trail sharrows will begin this fall.
The city is hosting an open house at 6 p.m. Wednesday to review designs for new street markings for bike lanes and other projects. The meeting will be at the Five Points Center for Active Adults at 2000 Noble Road.
