Description

Advisory Bike Lanes are a promising new roadway-striping design that includes a shared center lane for vehicles bordered by dashed bike lanes. Vehicles may use the dashed bike lane to pass oncoming vehicles after yielding to any bikes present. They are a low-cost design that encourages bike riding and promotes traffic calming, according to early studies in the US.

History

Advisory Bike Lanes, or Edge Lane Roads, originated in the Netherlands over 50 years ago. They have been applied successfully throughout Europe and are starting to appear in the United States and Canada. In the United States, there are at least 11 Advisory Bike Lane installations more than 8 years old that have all been deemed safe by their governing bodies. 

Benefits

According to early research findings, Advisory Bike Lanes have been shown to promote traffic calming, increase safety, and advance multimodal travel along roadways. Roads with Advisory Bike Lanes have seen vehicle speeds and crashes decrease over time, and they provide bike lanes on roads that would have been judged too narrow for traditional bike lanes.

Design

Advisory Bike Lanes are most suitable on low speed, low volume roads, according to the FHWA Small Town and Rural Multimodal Networks Guide recommendations.