Accommodate bicyclists when installing rumble strips, say Feds

Roadside rumble strips might be helpful to vehicle traffic on the open road, but they can be annoying and dangerous to people riding bicycles.

That's why three bicycling advocacy groups are publicly thanking the Federal Highway Administration for issuing guidelines this month to advise crews to consider bicyclists when installing the strips.

The statement was issued by Adventure Cycling Association, Alliance for Biking and Walkingand the League of American Bicyclists.

The three had been seeking changes to road design rules that resulted in rumble strips that had created hazardous conditions for cyclists.

Rumbling across Kansas

The photo above shows a length of Biking Across Kansas this year where bicyclists were forced to ride over or jockey around the rumble strips on the shoulder of US 50. I definitely remember this part of the ride, and no one enjoyed it. In fact, many wondered why rumble strips across the entire length of the shoulder had been added in the first place.

At the least, the grooves or raised bumps in the road — installed to alert drivers — are irritating to bicyclists who pass over them. At worst, they can cause a cyclist to lose control of the steering or veer into traffic to avoid the bumps.

The bicycling advocates had been trying to get the FHA offer some better guidance in its revised technical advisory on installing rumble strips. When the draft revisions came out in May, you might remember they were actually worse than the original guidelines published 8 years earlier.

Improved guidelines

After representatives of the three bicycling groups contacted the federal regulators, they worked together to come up with better guidelines. They called the new technical advisory a “substantial improvement.”

It includes “a new section about the accommodation of all roadway users (Section 9), with a special emphasis on the needs of cyclists, and lays out 'a number of measures that should be considered to accommodate bicyclists,' including wide shoulders, bicycle gaps (intervals without rumble strips that allow cyclists to safety cross back or forth), and customized rumble treatments to allow more space for cyclists. The new TA also includes a significantly improved section on public outreach and involvement.”

There are still deficiencies, however. Another section sets the “optimal length” of rumble strips at 16 inches. That can take up much of the riding space on narrower shoulders.

You can read the FHA's technical advisory at “Shoulder and Edge Line Rumble Strips.”

Here's a link to the joint statement from the three advocacy groups, and Adventure Cycling has posted an article at its blog. Also see, “Bicyclists aren't ready to rumble when they ride.”

Also, Adventure Cycling has asked readers to post good and bad examples of rumble strips on its Flickr account.