Has the definition regarding bicycle lanes changed and misc. bicycle lane questions?
David Whiteman
of California. I noticed on one stretch of Thousand Oaks Blvd in
Thousand Oaks, there was an area that was striped for a bicycle lane;
however, instead of the standard outline of a bicycle being placed in
the lane a "Bicycle Sharrow" symbol was placed. This is confusing in
that the the bicycle sharrow symbol is in place on other areas of the
blvd in which there are bicycle route signs as opposed to bicycle lane
markings. Are bicycle sharrow symbols replacing the standard bicycle
symbol for bike lanes? [There was some new construction in this area,
so they may in fact be converting the bike lane into a bike route or
vice versa.]
2) On another portion of Thousand Oaks Blvd (Maybe in an adjacent city
and not 1000 oaks), There was a sign in the middle of the bicycle
lane, that said "Bicycle Lane Closed, Road Construction." There was
no other evidence of construction around the sign, and no
corresponding sign that said words to the effect that the bicycle lane
was now open. How far could I legally not ride in the bicycle lane
without being cited for not riding in the bicycle lane, since it was
closed, assuming that the other requirements of the VC did not apply?
3) In Calabasas on another street, they apparently sandblasted away
the text on the roadway that said "Bike Lane" and painted a bicycle
symbol. I can see them painting a bike symbol on a lane to mark it,
but why spend the money to sand blast the old writing, since the
bicycle symbol was NOT painted over the text that said "Bike Lane."
4) There were stretches on another road in which there was a bike
lane marked, only by the painted bike symbol and the bike sign, about
every 1/2 mile, right after every major intersection (an intersection
with another large road with a traffic light). There were other
intersections of smaller streets without such signs. Therefore if I
started riding from such a street, and turned right, or left, I would
just see a striped line along the edge of the road, but nothing
telling me that the striped line was a bicycle lane, so how could I be
forced to ride in the bike lane, if I did not know it was a bike
lane. In fact it would be possible to ride about five miles turning
off the main road before a traffic light, on to a side street, turn
left on the next side street ( now parallel to the main road), turn
left on to another side street, turn right on the main road again, and
completely avoid any sign identifying the right striping as
demarcating a bike lane. Furthermore the right most portion of the
bicycle symbol was missing because it was cut off by the concrete edge
of the road (where it abuts the curb and sidewalk as opposed to the
rest of the road which is asphalt). Since the "front wheel" of the
bike symbol is missing, can it be considered not an official bike
lane.
Alan Wachtel
> Are bicycle sharrow symbols replacing the standard bicycle symbol for
> bike lanes?
No. California MUTCD Section 9C.103(CA) says:
> Standard:
> The shared roadway bicycle marking shall only be used on a roadway
> (Class III Bikeway (Bike Route) or Shared Roadway (No Bikeway
> Designation) which has on-street parallel parking.
--i.e., not on Class II bikeways (bike lanes).
> On another portion of Thousand Oaks Blvd (Maybe in an adjacent city
> and not 1000 oaks), There was a sign in the middle of the bicycle
> lane, that said "Bicycle Lane Closed, Road Construction." There was no
> other evidence of construction around the sign, and no corresponding
> sign that said words to the effect that the bicycle lane was now open.
> How far could I legally not ride in the bicycle lane without being
> cited for not riding in the bicycle lane, since it was closed,
> assuming that the other requirements of the VC did not apply?
I'd say you're entitled to use your own judgment about when it becomes
safe to ride in the bike lane again.
> In Calabasas on another street, they apparently sandblasted away the
> text on the roadway that said "Bike Lane" and painted a bicycle
> symbol. I can see them painting a bike symbol on a lane to mark it,
> but why spend the money to sand blast the old writing, since the
> bicycle symbol was NOT painted over the text that said "Bike Lane."
CAMUTCD Section 9C.04:
> Class II Bikeways (Bike Lane) require standard signing and pavement
> markings as shown in Figure 9C-102(CA).
That figure shows the BIKE LANE word message and directional arrow.
Section 9C.04 permits the use of an optional bicycle symbol pavement
marking, and Figures 9C-6 and 9C-6(CA) show details of the word message
and symbol.
The California Bicycle Advisory Committee (CBAC) voted earlier this year
to recommend allowing use of the symbol alone, in addition to the word
message alone or both, as now permitted, and to replace the California
symbol (a bicyclist facing right) with the federal MUTCD symbol (a
bicyclist facing left). But these recommendations haven't been
incorporated yet into the CAMUTCD. Calabasas shouldn't even know about
them, and in any case I don't see why the old word message would be
sandblasted away.
> There were stretches on another road in which there was a bike lane
> marked, only by the painted bike symbol and the bike sign, about every
> 1/2 mile, right after every major intersection (an intersection with
> another large road with a traffic light). There were other
> intersections of smaller streets without such signs.
Section 9B.04:
> Standard:
> The Bike Lane (R81(CA)) sign shall be placed at the beginning of each
> designated Bike Lane and along each Bike Lane at all major changes in
> direction. The R81(CA) sign shall be used to regulate bicycle and
> motor vehicle traffic, in accordance with CVC Sections 21207, 21207.5,
> 21208, 21209 and 21717.
> Guidance:
> The Bike Lane (R81(CA)) sign should be placed at every arterial street
> and at 800 m (1/2 mi) intervals of each designated Bike lane.
So the signage sounds acceptable.
Section 9C.04:
> Standard:
> If used, the bicycle lane symbol marking (see Figure 9C-6) shall be
> placed immediately after an intersection and at other locations as
> needed.
It isn't clear whether this was done. If so, the symbols would be
sufficient to identify the bike lane (leaving aside the current
requirement to also mark the word message). If not, not.
> Furthermore the right most portion of the bicycle symbol was missing
> because it was cut off by the concrete edge of the road (where it
> abuts the curb and sidewalk as opposed to the rest of the road which
> is asphalt). Since the "front wheel" of the bike symbol is missing,
> can it be considered not an official bike lane.
If you could still tell it was a bicycle symbol, you would probably have
a hard time making this argument.
--
Alan Wachtel
Palo Alto
Wac...@aol.com
David Whiteman
A friend told me that they may had to sandblast the entire lane before painting over it. They then painted both a new stripe and a new bike symbol. The new stripe covered the old sandblasted stripe, so I could not tell that the stripe was previously sand blasted. The bike symbol was stenciled over sandblasted that had no paint underneath it, but the sand blast was needed to allow the paint to adhere. It was a lot easier to sand blast a 5 or 6 foot wide strip than to only sand blast where they are going to paint. Also the sandblasting and painting were likely on different but consecutive days.
Alan Forkosh
Alan Forkosh Oakland, CA
afor...@mac.com
Dan Gutierrez
It would help if you give specific street names where you found these
facilities, and even better to include cross streets. I go out that way
(Thousand Oaks = TO) typically once a week, when I'm not on business travel,
in my car to visit a friend and retired senior colleague to take him out of
his residential care facility, so I can visit the roads in question and
photo-document any non-standard or unusual designs. I'll be driving out
there in about 1/2 hour from now (7:15 am, Sunday morning), so if you
provide some street names I will drive them on the way back from TO.
I have already photo-documented the Sharrows on TO Blvd from Moorpark west
for about 2 miles or so.
You can see a few pictures of them in this publicly available FB album:
Sharrow Lateral Placement and Frequency Issues:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56977&id=1574017310&l=fdc45d654a
- Dan Gutierrez -
Long Beach, CA
(562) 244-4145 Cell
(310) 336-3075 Office
(800) 616-4714 Pager
Dan.Gu...@Charter.Net
Organizational Affiliations
Local:
Long Beach Cyclists, Technical Advisory Committee Chair
Aerospace Cycling Club, Founder and Current President
SouthBay Westside Transportation Mgmt. Assoc., Board Member
State:
CA Assoc. of Bicycling Organizations (CABO), District 7 Director
CABO Education Committee Co-Chair http://www.cabobike.org/
Caltrans District 7 Bicycle Advisory Committee, Policy Chair
National:
League of American Bicyclists (LAB), Certified Instructor, LCI #962
http://www.bikeleague.org/
Dual Chase Productions LLC, Co-Creator http://www.dualchase.com/
Dual Chase video hosting at Cyclist View http://www.cyclistview.com/
YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/CyclistLorax
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Bob Shanteau
If the bike lane is too narrow for the bike lane marking to fit on the asphalt portion, then it is a substandard lane and need not be used.
And here is Figure 9C-6(CA) from the 2010 CA Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices:
Notice that both the bike lane symbol and the words BIKE LANE are 40" wide, which is less than the 36" minimum bike lane width. The symbol or words are located a few inches to the right of the bike lane stripe, so it is not unusual to see only a portion of the bike lane symbol or the letters BIK LAN to the left of the gutter pan for a minimum width bike lane (which most are, of course).
Bob Shanteau
Serge Issakov
--
Alan Forkosh
I think you meant
"Notice that both the bike lane symbol and the words BIKE LANE are 40" wide, which is MORE than the 36" minimum bike lane width."
I do find this strange that a road marking doesn't fit inside the area marked (and, to answer Serge, the gutter is NOT part of the bike lane).
Because I had some time today, I went out and took some pictures of the bike lane that inspired these comments. It's about 0.5 miles from my apartment. The pictures can be found at http://tinyurl.com/GrandBikeLane. Depending on whether the edge stripe counts, the bike lane just meets (or barely misses) the minimum required width. However, the stencil overflows quite liberally onto the gutter.
Alan Forkosh Oakland, CA
afor...@mac.com
On Sep 19, 2010, at 9:33 AM, Bob Shanteau wrote:
> On 9/18/2010 11:39 PM, Alan Forkosh wrote:
>> If the bike lane is too narrow for the bike lane marking to fit on the asphalt portion, then it is a substandard lane and need not be used.
>
> Not necessarily. This is a detail from Figure 1003.2A of the Caltrans Highway Design Manual showing the minimum bike lane width on streets without parking:
>
> <moz-screenshot-1.png>
>
> And here is Figure 9C-6(CA) from the 2010 CA Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices:
>
> <moz-screenshot-3.png>
David Chambers
Serge Issakov
Because I had some time today, I went out and took some pictures of the bike lane that inspired these comments. It's about 0.5 miles from my apartment. The pictures can be found at http://tinyurl.com/GrandBikeLane. Depending on whether the edge stripe counts, the bike lane just meets (or barely misses) the minimum required width. However, the stencil overflows quite liberally onto the gutter.
Andrew Smolik
> ...
> From just east of Westlake blvd to the city limits, and beyond into Westlake
> Village, there are bike lanes on Thousand Oaks Blvd, but no sharrows.
>
Thousand Oaks (including the Newbury Park section) has a lot of bike
lanes / paved shoulders, minimum or possibly substandard width, with
*posted signs* designating them as bike lanes but without any
*pavement stencils* designating them as bike lanes. As I understand,
such condition would make them non-compliant bike lanes not subject to
the MBL. Examples are Thousand Oaks Blvd. just east of Westlake
Blvd. / Promenade Way to Via Merida near the city / county limits;
Hillcrest Dr. between Rancho Conejo Blvd. on the west and Lynn Rd. on
the east; Ventu Park Rd. between Rancho Conejo Blvd. on the northwest
and Hillcrest Dr. on the southeast; and Rancho Conejo Blvd. between
Hillcrest Dr. on the south and Lawrence Dr. on the north.
(This information is current as of August 2009, when I had relocated
from Thousand Oaks / Newbury Park, CA, after 9 years there back to
Illinois where I live now and previously lived up to 2000. I had
bicycled nearly daily on the routes described above when I lived in
Thousand Oaks.)
Andrew Smolik