Introduction
An edge lane road, or ELR, is a shared street treatment that provides for two-way motor vehicle and vulnerable road user (VRU) traffic using a center lane and edge lanes on either side. The center lane is primarily for motorists traveling in both directions but VRUs can use it also. VRUs such as cyclists or pedestrians have right-of-way in the edge lanes but motorists can use the edge lanes, after yielding to the VRUs there, to pass approaching vehicles. This can sound ludicrous to those not familiar with the concept but it works well in numerous countries, including the US and Canada. This roadway configuration originated in the Netherlands where they have over 50 years and many hundreds of road-kilometers of experience with this facility.
The video below was produced by the City of Ottawa and is a good explanation of how this shared street treatment operates.
An edge lane road, or ELR, is a shared street treatment that provides for two-way motor vehicle and vulnerable road user (VRU) traffic using a center lane and edge lanes on either side. The center lane is primarily for motorists traveling in both directions but VRUs can use it also. VRUs such as cyclists or pedestrians have right-of-way in the edge lanes but motorists can use the edge lanes, after yielding to the VRUs there, to pass approaching vehicles. This can sound ludicrous to those not familiar with the concept but it works well in numerous countries, including the US and Canada. This roadway configuration originated in the Netherlands where they have over 50 years and many hundreds of road-kilometers of experience with this facility.
The video below was produced by the City of Ottawa and is a good explanation of how this shared street treatment operates.
Terminology
This treatment is known by different names. Examples include: 2-minus-1 roads (New Zealand, Denmark), Edge Lane Road (Denmark, US), Schutzstreifen (Germany), Suggestiestrook (Netherlands), and Advisory Bike Lanes (US).
I recommend the use of "Edge Lane Road" or ELR since it avoids the numerous problems associated with the Advisory Bike Lanes and Advisory Shoulders names. Those problems are described here.
This treatment is known by different names. Examples include: 2-minus-1 roads (New Zealand, Denmark), Edge Lane Road (Denmark, US), Schutzstreifen (Germany), Suggestiestrook (Netherlands), and Advisory Bike Lanes (US).
I recommend the use of "Edge Lane Road" or ELR since it avoids the numerous problems associated with the Advisory Bike Lanes and Advisory Shoulders names. Those problems are described here.
Purpose
This website has two goals around ELRs: 1) ensure accurate information is available to everybody and 2) put a stake in the ground on design issues with an intent to foster dialogue. This site targets traffic engineers, bicycle advocates and those that are more knowledgeable about road design.
This website has two goals around ELRs: 1) ensure accurate information is available to everybody and 2) put a stake in the ground on design issues with an intent to foster dialogue. This site targets traffic engineers, bicycle advocates and those that are more knowledgeable about road design.
ELRs are Shared Roadways
ELRs are a shared street paradigm rather than a new type of bike lane; this is not yet understood by the FHWA and others. The concept of a shared roadway already exists in the MUTCD. If an agency wishes to install an ELR and wants to remain compliant with the MUTCD, a process for doing so is described here.
ELRs are a shared street paradigm rather than a new type of bike lane; this is not yet understood by the FHWA and others. The concept of a shared roadway already exists in the MUTCD. If an agency wishes to install an ELR and wants to remain compliant with the MUTCD, a process for doing so is described here.
ELRs Where Vulnerable Road User Safety is the Priority
In the US, many folks are express concern about drivers' ability to handle ELRs. This is a red herring. What would happen if VRU safety was the priority?
Kuileneindestraat is a street in Meerssen, Limburg in the Netherlands that used to be 2-lane (photo on left). They installed an ELR in 2019 (photo on right). They kept the edge lanes wide despite the street being too narrow for a one-vehicle-wide center lane.
This is the result of making VRU safety a priority. FYI This is not the only street in the NL that looks like this.
In the US, many folks are express concern about drivers' ability to handle ELRs. This is a red herring. What would happen if VRU safety was the priority?
Kuileneindestraat is a street in Meerssen, Limburg in the Netherlands that used to be 2-lane (photo on left). They installed an ELR in 2019 (photo on right). They kept the edge lanes wide despite the street being too narrow for a one-vehicle-wide center lane.
This is the result of making VRU safety a priority. FYI This is not the only street in the NL that looks like this.
Kuileneindestraat, Meerssen, Limburg. 2018. Google Maps.
|
Kuileneindestraat, Meerssen, Limburg. 2019. Google Maps
|
News
Accessible Design for the Blind (ADB), best known as the entity led by tireless advocate for the low vision population, Janet Barlow, released a letter in September 2022 stating their preference for ELRs over standard 2 lane roads without sidewalks for the low vision population. A copy of the letter is available here.
A draft proposal by the NCUTCD Bicycle Technical Committee on an MUTCD addition for ELRs as advisory bike lanes has been completed and is out for review by other technical committees. The NCUTCD proposal classifies ELRs as a type of bicycle lane instead of a shared street. Not only is this inaccurate but, because state laws don't allow motor vehicles in bike lanes, this will create a need for state laws to change. It also creates a need for a different proposal that makes it OK to use the same treatment for other types of vulnerable road users. This is unwise, unwieldly, and unfortunate.
Nobody knows when the new AASHTO Bicycle Guide will be release. We do know that it includes some new guidance on the treatment. The AASHTO draft copies the Dutch guidance on on center lane width which should help create safer facilities. Unfortunately, it keeps Passing Sight Distance for a sight distance criterion.
Accessible Design for the Blind (ADB), best known as the entity led by tireless advocate for the low vision population, Janet Barlow, released a letter in September 2022 stating their preference for ELRs over standard 2 lane roads without sidewalks for the low vision population. A copy of the letter is available here.
A draft proposal by the NCUTCD Bicycle Technical Committee on an MUTCD addition for ELRs as advisory bike lanes has been completed and is out for review by other technical committees. The NCUTCD proposal classifies ELRs as a type of bicycle lane instead of a shared street. Not only is this inaccurate but, because state laws don't allow motor vehicles in bike lanes, this will create a need for state laws to change. It also creates a need for a different proposal that makes it OK to use the same treatment for other types of vulnerable road users. This is unwise, unwieldly, and unfortunate.
Nobody knows when the new AASHTO Bicycle Guide will be release. We do know that it includes some new guidance on the treatment. The AASHTO draft copies the Dutch guidance on on center lane width which should help create safer facilities. Unfortunately, it keeps Passing Sight Distance for a sight distance criterion.
Latest Research
A 2021 study from the Mineta Transportation Institute found an aggregate CMF value of .56 using Empirical Bayes analysis for 11 U.S. installations studied over 8 years and approximately 60 million motor vehicle trips. This corresponds to a crash rate reduction of 44%. Only motor vehicle crashes were studied. There was insufficient data to evaluate vulnerable road user safety but no agency reported a bicyclist or pedestrian safety issue with their ELRs.
The report is available at “Safety Considerations for All Road Users on Edge Lane Roads”.
A new analysis of the Mineta data using even more conservative assumptions was recently published in the Journal of Transportation Engineering published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); it found a crash rate reduction of 36% or a CMF of .64. That article is available here.
Keep up-to-date on ELR news
An email-based listserve has been created to support discussion of ELRs. You can join by sending an email with "subscribe" in the subject line to advisorybikelanes-request@coe.neu.edu.
A 2021 study from the Mineta Transportation Institute found an aggregate CMF value of .56 using Empirical Bayes analysis for 11 U.S. installations studied over 8 years and approximately 60 million motor vehicle trips. This corresponds to a crash rate reduction of 44%. Only motor vehicle crashes were studied. There was insufficient data to evaluate vulnerable road user safety but no agency reported a bicyclist or pedestrian safety issue with their ELRs.
The report is available at “Safety Considerations for All Road Users on Edge Lane Roads”.
A new analysis of the Mineta data using even more conservative assumptions was recently published in the Journal of Transportation Engineering published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); it found a crash rate reduction of 36% or a CMF of .64. That article is available here.
Keep up-to-date on ELR news
An email-based listserve has been created to support discussion of ELRs. You can join by sending an email with "subscribe" in the subject line to advisorybikelanes-request@coe.neu.edu.
FHWA Decision to Deny All Future Experimentation
In late 2021, the FHWA announced they would deny all future requests to experiment (RTEs) with ELRs. Their stated reason for this decision was that they had enough ongoing experiments to satisfy their data collection needs.
On April 19, 2022, a group of industry-leading organizations (NACTO, ITE, APBP, LAB) and practitioners sent a letter to the FHWA explaining why this reasoning and action was mistaken and offered alternative actions to consider. For more information on this issue and the reasons the industry felt the FHWA should reconsider, read the letter at this link.
At the Summer, 2022 meeting of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, an FHWA representative spoke to the Bicycle Technical Committee. He told the committee that the reason for denying future RTE applications was because the FHWA wasn't getting enough data from agencies with already-approved RTEs (this differs from the reason stated on their website). This makes it appear that, because some agencies weren't complying with the conditions of their RTE agreements, the FHWA had decided to deny all other agencies the ability to make their streets safer. I am unsure of the logic behind this decision.
Letter Update: On February 28, 2023 (~10 months turnaround), the FHWA responded to the industry's 2022 letter. That letter did not respond to any of the problems described in the original letter and did not respond to any of the suggestions for alternative action. It did not comment on the fact that many of its current experiments use designs that are NOT recommended by guidance from countries with decades more experience with ELRs.
In late 2021, the FHWA announced they would deny all future requests to experiment (RTEs) with ELRs. Their stated reason for this decision was that they had enough ongoing experiments to satisfy their data collection needs.
On April 19, 2022, a group of industry-leading organizations (NACTO, ITE, APBP, LAB) and practitioners sent a letter to the FHWA explaining why this reasoning and action was mistaken and offered alternative actions to consider. For more information on this issue and the reasons the industry felt the FHWA should reconsider, read the letter at this link.
At the Summer, 2022 meeting of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, an FHWA representative spoke to the Bicycle Technical Committee. He told the committee that the reason for denying future RTE applications was because the FHWA wasn't getting enough data from agencies with already-approved RTEs (this differs from the reason stated on their website). This makes it appear that, because some agencies weren't complying with the conditions of their RTE agreements, the FHWA had decided to deny all other agencies the ability to make their streets safer. I am unsure of the logic behind this decision.
Letter Update: On February 28, 2023 (~10 months turnaround), the FHWA responded to the industry's 2022 letter. That letter did not respond to any of the problems described in the original letter and did not respond to any of the suggestions for alternative action. It did not comment on the fact that many of its current experiments use designs that are NOT recommended by guidance from countries with decades more experience with ELRs.
Database of ELRs in North America
I maintain a database of ELR installs in the US and Canada (there are more than 70 as of September 2022!). The database includes geometric, technical, and legal information on each facility secured through an interview with an agency representative. I hope to make this data publicly available, ala Kittelson's roundabout database, in the future. If you are aware of a new ELR, please let me know by emailing me at bikepedx@gmail.com.
I maintain a database of ELR installs in the US and Canada (there are more than 70 as of September 2022!). The database includes geometric, technical, and legal information on each facility secured through an interview with an agency representative. I hope to make this data publicly available, ala Kittelson's roundabout database, in the future. If you are aware of a new ELR, please let me know by emailing me at bikepedx@gmail.com.
Advisory Bike Lanes |
Top Photo Courtesy of Richard Sparks
|