[Talk-us] Identifying bike lanes (Re: LA and other license changeover challenged areas.)

[Nathan Edgars II]

On 1/30/2012 5:46 PM, Martijn van Exel wrote:
> I'd say knowing what they look like + Bing is sufficient if the road
> markings are actually there (not only the lane separator linear
> markings - that's too ambiguous). What I'm not sure of is whether bike
> lane road markings are the same across the US (ie a stylized bicycle +
> rider with an arrow point in the direction of bike traffic flow on
> top).

The arrow is always the same in my experience. Below the arrow is either 
a bike stencil or the words BIKE LANE. There may also be a diamond. (I 
think I've seen one with only a diamond and arrow; that to me doesn't 
say bike lane.)

A few notes:
The lack of any markings in the supposed bike lane does not mean it is 
not one. Sometimes there are only signs.
If the arrow is instead two closely-spaced chevrons, it's a "sharrow". 
These should appear in the normal lane and not in a separate bike lane, 
and are tagged differently (cycleway=sharrow or shared_lane_marking).