I mentioned regulations.gov tonight at the meeting. The Notice of Proposed Amendments (NPA) for the next MUTCD ( http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/ ) can be commented about online by the public until April 31st at this site:
http://tinyurl.com/yr7q3v (shortened regulations.gov url)
For information purposes for our Board, I copied the SLA (9C.07) and May Use Full Lane Sign (R4-11) section as they presently look in the proposed text for the MUTCD. Both of these are mentioned in the excellent letter Don showed us tonight.
Section 9C.07 Shared Lane Marking Option:
The Shared Lane Marking shown in Figure 9C-9 may be used to:
A. Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in a shared lane with on-street parallel parking in order to reduce the chance of a bicyclist’s impacting the open door of a parked vehicle,
B. Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in lanes that are too narrow for a motor vehicle and a bicycle to travel side by side within the same traffic lane,
C. Alert road users of the lateral location bicyclists are likely to occupy within the traveled way,
D. Encourage safe passing of bicyclists by motorists, and
E. Reduce the incidence of wrong-1 way bicycling.
Guidance:
The Shared Lane Marking should not be placed on roadways that have a speed limit above 50 km/h or 35 mph.
Standard:
Shared Lane Markings shall not be used on shoulders or in designated bicycle lanes.
If used in a shared lane with on-street parallel parking, Shared Lane Markings shall be placed so that the centers of the markings are at least 3.4 m (11 ft) from the face of the curb, or from the edge of the pavement where there is no curb.
Guidance:
If used on a street without on-street parking that has an outside travel lane that is less than 4.3 m (14 ft) wide, the centers of the Shared Lane Markings should be at least 1.2 m (4 ft) from the face of the curb, or from the edge of the pavement where there is no curb.
If used, the Shared Lane Marking should be placed immediately after an intersection and spaced at intervals not greater than 75 m (250 ft) thereafter.
Section 9B.06 Bicycles May Use Full Lane Sign (R4-11)
Option:
The Bicycles May Use Full Lane (R4-11) sign (see Figure 9B-2) may be used on roadways where no bicycle lanes or adjacent shoulders usable by bicyclists are present and where travel lanes are too narrow for bicyclists and motor vehicles to operate side by side.
The Bicycles May Use Full Lane sign may be used in locations where it is important to inform road users that bicyclists might occupy the travel lane.
Support:
The Uniform Vehicle Code (UVC) defines a “substandard width lane” as a “lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the same lane.”