Bicycle Facilities and the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices

This treatment is currently experimental.

Required elements:

• Advance stop bar, and
• Bicycle symbol pavement marking(s), and
• Full-time turn on red prohibition, and
• The bicycle box must be setback (setback) from the adjacent crosswalk or pedestrian crossing movement if a crosswalk is not present. The bicycle box cannot be contiguous to the crosswalk, and
• Pedestrian countdown signals must be present or installed for the contiguous crosswalk movement if the bicycle box is installed laterally across more than one approach lane, and
• Where an exisitng, advance stop bar is relocated to accommodate the installation of the bicycle box, a recalculation of the yellow change and red clearance intervals is required (see Section 4D.26) to accommodate the length of the bicycle box and the new setback. This signal timing analysis will not need to be submitted with their request to experiment for FHWA review or approval. The agency is to retain the signal timing analysis on file with their request to experiment in the event the FHWA needs to access the signal timing analysis at a later date.

Optional element:

• Green colored pavement

The FHWA has approved 25 requests to experiment since 2008 for the bicycle box. These experiments have provided sufficient data to establish conclusions regarding the metrics provided in the list below. However additional data is needed on crash data, conflicts/avoidance maneuvers between the motor vehicle and the bicycle, and motor vehicle and bicycle compliance with the turn on red prohibition. New requests to experiment must include at a minimum these three performance measures but they are not required to also analyze statistical significance.

New requests may include these additional performance measures if desired:

• Bicycle volume,
• Bicycle speed,
• Bicycle use/occupation of the approaching bicycle lane,
• Bicycle use/occupation of bicycle box after installation,
• If the bicyclist entered/departed the intersection before the motor vehicle,
• If the bicyclist makes an illegal movement, such as running a red light,
• Bicycle surveys,
• Motor vehicle volume,
• Motor vehicle speed,
• Encroachment of the motor vehicle on the stop line or in bicycle box,
• Turning motor vehicles encroaching into the bike lane at the intersection or on the approach,
• Motor vehicle yielding behavior, or
• Motor vehicle surveys.

More information on the FHWA's active official experiments for bicycle boxes can be found at the Official Rulings Database on the MUTCD Web site. Active official experiments include:

• 9-105 - Portland, OR
• 9-108 - Columbus, OH
• 9-110 - Phoenix, AZ
• 9-121 - Austin, TX
• 9-127 - Washington, D.C.
• 9-129 - Lexington-Fayette County, KY
• 9(09)-5 - Hennepin County, MN
• 9(09)-8 - Louisville, KY
• 9(09)-12 - Madison, WI
• 9(09)-15 - New Haven, CT
• 9(09)-17 - Missoula, MT
• 9(09)-18 - Fort Collins, CO
• 9(09)-21 - The University of Minnesota
• 9(09)-23 - Santa Monica, CA
• 9(09)-35 - Lakeland, FL
• 9(09)-40 - Quincy, MA
• 9(09)-41 - Davis, CA
• 9(09)-43 - Massachusetts DOT
• 9(09)-48 - Somerville, MA
• 9(09)-49 - Charlottesville, VA
• 9(09)-51 - Wauwatosa, WI
• 9(09)-52 - Boston, MA
• 9(09)-53 - Charlotte, NC