2026 CA MUTCD - Bicycle Signals
William Sellin
William Sellin
714.943.3678
WASe...@gmail.com
Infrastructure Review Committee
Area Liaison to Caltrans District 12
<camutcd-2026-4h CHAPTER 4H. BICYCLE SIGNALS.pdf><PastedGraphic-2.tiff>Bill Sellin
714.943.3678
WASe...@gmail.com<PastedGraphic-6.tiff><PastedGraphic-8.tiff>
David Takemoto-Weerts
I forwarded Bill's message to retired Caltrans Chief of the Office of Bicycle Facilities, Rick Blunden, who also lives in Davis. Rick is the one who originally proposed adding the helmet. He asked me why the helmet was being removed, and I asked Richard Moeur who has served on the National Committee for Uniform Traffic Control Devices for many years. His response:When Part 9 was added to the MUTCD in 1978, the bicyclist pavement marking symbol for bike lanes used a simplified human figure bracketed by wheels, but with no bicycle visible. This was called by some of us in NCUTCD informally as the "barrel jumper". This symbol was apparently used in California prior to national adoption and was adapted from California standards.To my knowledge, there was never any formal study on road user comprehension for this symbol, as is now expected by FHWA for newly-added symbols. That being said, it's been in use for nearly half a century with no apparent comprehension problems.
The 2004 edition of the FHWA Standard Highway Signs and Markings book modified the symbol to add a representation of a helmet to the stylized figure (see page 10-16 of the 2004 SHSM). This was indeed informally called the "mushroom head" or "rivet head" version. While Mr. Blunden may have been one of the persons advocating for this change, I am aware of many others who were involved in seeing it through, including members of the NCUTCD BTC. The important point is not who recommended it, but that it was adopted by FHWA.
For decades, practitioners and others have noted that the standard sign symbol of a bicycle without rider versus the "barrel jumper" standard marking symbol were not uniform with one another. One of the first formal recommendations of the NCUTCD Bicycle Technical Committee after its inception in 1996 was to add a standard marking to the MUTCD resembling the sign symbol. This was approved by NCUTCD and forwarded to FHWA in early 2000; however, this symbol was not included in the MUTCD until 2003. Note that the "barrel jumper" was still considered a valid option as well and no recommendation was made to remove that symbol, due to its extensive use by agencies.
In the intervening years, the question kept recurring as to whether two different bike lane markings symbols should be retained in the MUTCD. My recollection is that polls within both the Bicycle and Markings Technical Committees would split 50 / 50 as to whether the "barrel jumper" should be kept or dropped, so there was no apparent consensus on the issue.
This status quo maintained until the issuance of the Draft 11th Edition of the MUTCD was issued in December 2000. In the draft, FHWA removed the "barrel jumper" bike lane marking symbol from Figure 9E-1; however, the Federal Register NPA document made no specific mention of this change. In docket comment FHWA-2020-0001-4800, NCUTCD did not agree with the deletion of that marking symbol and recommended it be retained. However, the final version of the 11th edition in late 2023 omitted the "barrel jumper" as an allowable marking, but allows existing markings to stay in place for the remainder of their service lives.
Since 2007, FHWA through regulatory actions in 23 CFR 655 has significantly curtailed the latitude of states and other agencies to deviate from the national MUTCD. This first applied to Standard (mandatory) content, and was expanded to Guidance (recommended) content with the 11th Edition. States were required to adopt the 11th Edition of the MUTCD as is, as modified by a state MUTCD supplement, or a state-specific MUTCD in "substantial conformance" with the 11th Edition by January 18, 2026 (last Sunday). The new California MUTCD is a result of tis process. Given the regulatory changes, compared to previous editions FHWA has been much less likely to approve state-specific changes to MUTCD content. This is why CTCDC and Caltrans were unable to reinsert the "barrel jumper" symbol into the CA MUTCD, similar to other states that also requested keeping the marking.
I also heard from Rock Miller on the matter:
I am currently chair of the NCUTCD Bicycle Technical Committee that Richard Chaired in the 2010’s. He has ascended to executive level of the NCUTCD. Many persons on and off our committee were surprised by FHWA decision to delete the helmeted rider from the MUTCD. NCUTCD did request that it remain in responses to the Notice of Rulemaking, but FHWA did not follow our recommendation. We (NCUTCD) have not proposed or taken any positions since the 11th Edition of the MUTCD was released regarding the omitted stencil.
These are all my personal thoughts below.
I helped Caltrans adopt the new state version of the MUTCD (as did Richard). We asked FHWA staff monitor for relief on many items, but did not get positive feedback on this issue and many others.
I don’t know what might happen in the future. There is no clear path to the process of adding it back to the MUTCD.
Consensus of users is that the helmeted rider is more visible, and it is the most frequently used stencil. Apparently, there was not a lot of consideration of visibility or usage when the stencil was deleted. The only FHWA formal response in adopting the 11th edition was that there were three stencils and FHWA chose to reduce the number of alternatives to two for uniformity. There would probably be greater support among users for deleting the Word Message (Bike Lane -> ) if a poll was taken or visibility was evaluated.
Nine of the ten bikeways awarded by people for bikes as best bikeways for 2025 had the helmeted rider stencil visible in the photos.
The markings can remain for their useful life at this time.
Unrelated, but Caltrans went along with FHWA on bike lane and bikeway signs, so many existing CA signs are not compliant. They would also be changed out when their useful life is expended.
Of course, I shared all this with Rick.
David Takemoto-Weerts
Davis, CA