RUMBLE STRIPS
Rumble strips...
The first shoulder rumble strips (SRS) appeared on New Jersey's Garden State Parkway in 1955 when 25 miles of singing shoulders were installed in Middlesex and Monmouth counties. Other States started utilizing SRS in a variety of forms due to documented studies on safety effectiveness of SRS. The popularity of SRS has recently led to their use on many two-lane rural roadways.
The League of American Bicyclists (LAB) alerted Congressman James L. Oberstar of safety concerns SRS present bicyclists. In an effort to ease bicyclists' concerns regarding SRS, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) met with the LAB and Congressman Oberstar. FHWA decided to produce a report on current SRS policies, designs, and usage. While SRS are docu-mented as an effective means of preventing certain types of crashes, FHWA is concerned about the challenges that SRS present to some roadway users.
Adapted from FHWA - Practices and Policy
INFORMATION
This is an interesting study, but pertains only to roads that have a wide shoulder. The solution is to move to a state with bike lanes I guess. Or get them to make the rumble strips narrow and shallow on roads with little or no shoulder. Seems to be a ton of other sites. . . Tom Benim
The problem came to the forefront in Sumner County when TDOT rumbled SR 109 in late 2008 (click here for the details and history) thereby destroying a relatively safe route for use by cyclists. Local advocates participated in a series of meetings with TDOT in an attempt to get compromise safety regulations for all users. At this time Leslie Meehan reports that although TDOT has not implemented any policy changes, they have taken into consideration the position statements offered by local advocates.
From: Leslie Meehan, January 8, 2009
Today TDOT held a conference call with MPO bike/ped coordinators from across the state, and one of the topics was rumble strips. TDOT is planning on looking at different rumble options: periodic breaks in the rumbles, rumble depth (going from 1/2" to 3/8" I believe), rumble width (going from 16" to 6") and using a stripe on the white edge line vs. a strip on the shoulder. TDOT is preparing several test sites on SR 840 and is planning on inviting bicyclists to come and test the different rumble applications and provide feedback. A few other DOTs have done this type of field testing and have used the feedback when developing state rumble policy.
We do not have any details yet on when this will happen, but we will keep you posted. Sounds like it will be in the next few weeks, as TDOT would like to get a rumble application policy going before the paving season begins in March. TDOT should be applauded for quick response to the concerns of the bicycling community and willingness to allow bicyclists to be part of the decision making for state policy.
From: Pugliese Philip (Chattanooga), April 01, 2009
Subject: Recent Rumble Strip Action
Noted by a local cyclist: “Well in typical big brother fashion, the Rhea County Highway department has seen fit to put the vibrator strip on the edge of Hwy 30 across and down Dayton Mtn. That, in effect, forces the Dayton riders an additional 18" out in the roadway (there's no road on the RH side of the strip). WooHoo. Now when we get hazed and moved to the right we are rewarded with life threatening vibration at 45 mph. Watch this space for the next chapter in the car-bike saga. Just trying to make everyone aware.”
From: Jessica Wilson, April 02, 2009 (615) 741-5025
Subject: Re: Recent rumble strip application
Yes- SR-30 is a state route. We had another meeting the other day with several of the department heads regarding rumble strips. Right now they at least agreed to halt rumbling projects identified as state or local bike routes so I've been calling those in to the regional offices before they resurface.
However, this is just a temporary fix. We've been in on-going discussions to come up with a rumble strip policy that accomodates all users on all state routes. There is some disagreement among staff so we're working towards a consensus. TDOT Operations has agreed to create a test strip on SR-840 and invite cyclists to bring their bikes and test out different applications. i.e. gaps, shallower depth, narrower strip. TDOT bike/ped staff is also pushing for an agreement to not rumble shoulders less than 4' in width. This is where we're still working to come up with a consensus. I think this test strip will be an opportune time for cyclists to gather and voice their opinion. So far a date hasn't been set. I'll try and call the guy who is setting this up and see when he thinks it will happen. I already had planned on posting it to this group as soon as I found out.
All I can say in the meantime is- sorry guys and gals. I really do share your frustration. We're pushing hard to create change, but unfortunately its taking a great amount of patience. Hang in there....
From: Jeff Sammons, April 02, 2009
Subject: Re: Recent rumble strip application
Hi Jessica, Why can't TDOT just follow the policy already on the books regarding rumble strips? See the existing policy at: http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/bikeped/pdfs/policy.pdf. The policy stated is: Where shoulders with rumble strips are installed, a minimum clear path of 4 feet of smooth shoulder is to be provided.
Cyclist in New York File SUIT to stop Rumbling of Roads
From: Bruce Day, June 11, 2009 11:13 AM
Just to note again that this is not just a TN problem and TDOT is giving us more consideration than many states. I also have a report from a touring friend encountering this in New Mexico.
At the meeting with TDOT a few months ago one measure mentioned was to check and see what our neighboring states are doing. I shuddered. (Sweet Home) Alabama (My home state) is awful and had already rumbled many of the few suitable roads. My first encounter with the insane application of rumbles was in KY where they put a small rumble strip at the edge of about every road. Mostly these were no problem since these were very quiet rural roads and the rumbles closer to the edge than I'd ride anyway. But not always so I fired off a letter to the KY Transportation Cabinet asking what was the deal.
They did reply and stated it was not a rumble but a "feathered edge" and meant as a visual cue in bad weather. Now many of the are on roads so winding one could not do over 20 mph under the best conditions. My favorite though, is depicted in the attachment. Obviously newly paved. Most cars could not put rubber on the feathered edge due to the guardrail. Some of the roads with feathering appeared to have been done years ago as the ridges were worn down and frequently crumbled away.
My point is that we do need to continue to make noise because we cannot rely on the experts to make rational decisions. Once these decisions are made they will affect us for years. I'm still seeing new rumbles in TN but so far none in critical areas since our meeting with TDOT. For now it seems we are best working in the system. Especially as Pat note, we have no real choice.
Colorado Department of Transportation proposes "Bicycle-Friendly" Rumble Strips. An oxymoron?
From: Bruce Day, June 10, 2009
Nelson, Here's the issue in a nutshell. Tennessee like the rest of the USA has many miles of moderately trafficked roads with about a meter of shoulder. Though they may not be the ideal place to ride, sometimes they are the only/least bad way and are acceptable for an experienced rider and reasonable drivers. Most of the time cars can crowd but not cross the center line and still pass with more than 3 feet of clearance. These shoulders are being rumbled in such a way that cyclists cannot ride the shoulder at all and are forced into the main traffic lane. Now overtaking cars must cross into opposing traffic to pass. Some say, including one TDOT engineer, just do it. Having done it, I prefer not despite being the most foolhardy of my cycle group. Now comes some stimulus policy that pays states for painting stripes on the road if they will also rumble them. AASHTO guidelines suggest no rumbles for shoulders less than four feet but the stimulus money has no such
restriction. Hence thousands of miles nationwide are begin destroyed for cycling. I have no argument with rumbles on interstate like roads and in any place where four feet of usable shoulder is leftafter the rumbling. Tennessee is not the worst state about this but it is also on the rumble bandwagon.
US 70 East of Crossville
Arizona DOT
"Continuous Longitudinal Rumble Strip Groove,
Gallatin "acceptable" rumble is right-side drawing
Washington DOT's
Shoulder Rumble Strips for
Bicycle friendly skip pattern is under
the undivided highways link.
