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Title:

Safety Considerations for Permitting Bicycles on Controlled Access Highway Shoulders

Accession Number:

01372758

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

In an effort to meet increasing demands for travel options, highway agencies are working to accommodate non-motorists into the transportation system. Because of the challenges in constructing separate paths for bicycles, highway shoulders are the most feasible alternative in many cases, and those once prohibited for bicycle travel have been opened or are being considered for bicycle use. Although studies of the safety aspects of bicycle travel on highway shoulders have been conducted, examinations appear to focus on summary statistics of bicycle-related crashes and/or a handful of individual cases of such crashes. This study examined several aspects associated with the safety of bicyclists on shoulders of controlled access highways using empirical and theoretical analysis. The intent of the study was to determine the characteristics of a roadway segment that would require it to be designated as prohibited for bicycle use. Some of the study findings include (1) few bicyclist/pedestrian involved crashes were reported on the controlled access highways in Virginia; (2) the segments prohibiting bicyclists/pedestrians are predicted to have more run-off-right crashes, the immediate threat to non-motorists on shoulders, than the segments permitting such usage; and (3) although stopping sight distance for bicycles is not a primary concern in permitting bicycle use of shoulders in general, there are conditions such as downgrade segments with the design speed below 40 mph where it should be considered.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF20 Bicycle Transportation

Monograph Accession #:

01362476

Report/Paper Numbers:

12-4068

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Kweon, Young-Jun
Lim, In-Kyu
Lynn, Cheryl W

Pagination:

17p

Publication Date:

2012

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2012-1-22 to 2012-1-26
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References; Tables

Uncontrolled Terms:

Bicycle safety

Geographic Terms:

Virginia

Subject Areas:

Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2012 Paper #12-4068

Files:

TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Feb 8 2012 5:21PM