No Bicycles Allowed In Overbrook?

On a recent ride, I came across the following sign in downtown Overbrook, KS:

At first glance, the sign would seem to say that no bicycles are allowed. Period.

Later, looking the issue up on the town’s web site, I found an ordinance that prohibits bicycles, motorbikes, tricycles, skateboards, scooters, roller blades, or roller skates on sidewalks within a two-block area on Maple Street in Overbrook.

I assume that this sign relates to that ordinance. If so, this looks to be a case of poor signage:

• If all those other conveyances are banned as well, why does the sign show only a bicycle?
• With no wording accompanying the sign, it’s reasonable to infer that the ban applies to not only the sidewalk, but to the street as well — after all, there are speed limit and “no u-turn” signs just a bit down the street, positioned in exactly the same place, and presumably those apply to the street, not the sidewalk (click the photo above for a higher-resolution image).

In such a small town (population 947), is there really a need for such restrictions? From my brief visit to the town, there didn’t seem to be a lot of bicycles around (or any of the other devices listed), nor were there any pedestrians on the sidewalks.

It just seems strange…

And by the way, if you can get past their bicycle unfriendliness, Overbrook is a great little town with a rich history (founded in 1886 as a railroad town, in what was then the leading coal-producing region west of the Mississippi river). Although Overbrook wasn’t in existence when the Sante Fe Trail was in use, the actual route of the trail runs right through downtown Overbrook. There’s a nice mural painted on the side of a building along highway 56:

Don’t Overlook Overbrook!