Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Accommodating Bicyclists through Paved Shoulders on New Mexico’s State Highways

If you have not looked at this little gem prepared by Tim Rogers, former NMDoT Bike-Ped-Equestrian coordinator, and Andy Hume, MPO Planner from Las Cruces, you should.

Accommodating Bicyclists through Paved Shoulders on New Mexico’s State Highways 44th Paving and Transportation Conference, Albuquerque, NM. Jan, 9th, 2007.

Wish I had been there.

Here are a couple other useful links. Send more if you got 'em.

FHWA on Shoulder Width

FHWA Guidance Memorandum on Consideration and Implementation of Proven Safety Countermeasures  (safety edge section)

1999 AASHTO Bike Guide

4 comments:

Steve A said...

"Any shoulder width is better than none at all?" Several of his photos debunk THAT!

Khal said...

Ain't that the truth. A dangerous shoulder is worse than none at all because someone will think we should be riding on it or worse yet, a cyclist will ride on a dangerous shoulder rather than in the safer lane. For example, NM-4 in the Jemez Mts.

Readers should note that the original AASHTO guidelines say "Paved shoulders should be at least 1.2 m (4 feet) wide to accommodate bicycle travel. However, where 1.2-m (4-foot) widths cannot be achieved, any additional shoulder width is better than none at all."

acyclist2 said...

I don't understand why they can't just use the extra 2 feet for a wide lane. (if you want happy cyclists).

Whats the desire to have a 2 foot shoulder?

Khal said...

I think it is traffic engineering best practice to have some shoulder to the right of the travel lane so that heavy vehicles are not riding right on the pavement edge.