Cycling Claremont: Fresh Paint and Signs of the Times...

I was all set to comment on how some of our city's bike lanes have been loosing their luster, becoming a bit indistinct through wear and tear. Instead I came across newly painted lines on College Avenue above 6th Street. I also noticed that the paint is full of little flecks of shinning material; maybe I have never noticed before, or is this something new, something that makes the lines more reflective and thus visible at night? Anyone know?

At the same time, but a little further down the same street, it was impossible not to notice that the city's first sharrows have been installed, complete with signage and lane markings. The Bike Priority Zone sign is a nice addition as well - I will have to make some trips around to look for more, although they may only be going up bit by bit as different phases are completed. The sharrows run between 6th and Bonita, in both directions. If you checked in at StreetsblogLA this morning you may have noticed a photo on that site as well (they beat me to it, and I was not planning on a second post today, but felt pressured into it). One thing to notice about the sharrow symbols; they are not placed in the actual middle of the lane, the space between curb and center line, they are place in the middle of the travel space, between parked cars and the centerline, and thus position cyclists clear of the door zone. They got it right.

Now I am going to complain for a minute. A week or two ago another one of those "most bicycle friendly cities lists" came out, I believe by Bicycling Magazine. Why do these types of lists continue to only consider cities of a certain size, leaving smaller cities in the lurch, irregardless of how much they have done to promote bicycling within their borders? I know that changes made in larger cities have the potential to affect more people, but I think it is time to see a list that considers amount of infrastructure, education programs, community involvement relative to size. If you consider everything that has been done, is being done, and is planned within this little burg of 38,000 residents, I guarantee it will match up with, if not exceed, any city ten times its size or more.