As a professor and researcher in transportation planning, I proposed the same idea in a paper I wrote last fall. You might enjoy reading it; it gives some background on why it’s needed, and relates it to “suggestion lanes” used in the Netherlands.

I have also proposed a name for this lane-within-a-lane treatment, “bicycle priority lane.” My main point is that sharrows by themselves don’t get the desired effect. To really make cyclists understand that they can ride in the middle of the lane, and make motorists understand the same, it’s necessary for the “bike zone” to be designated by longitudinal markings. In Long Beach and Salt Lake, you do it very effectively with carpet coloring; I think it can also be done with parallel dashed lines.

After I wrote my paper, which I distributed on the web in December, 2008, I learned that Salt Lake City had already implemented the concept, and updated my paper to include a reference to their work. I’m planning to submit this paper to the Transportation research Board for their Jan, 2009 annual meeting, and will be sure to update it to include your application.

To see the January, 2009 version of the paper, see
http://www.coe.neu.edu/transportation/bpl.html