Bicycle Facilities and the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices

This treatment is currently experimental.

Where the lateral width of a street prevents the installation of both a conventional bicycle lane and a standard-width travel lane for motor vehicles, dashed bicycle lanes could be an alternative to the shared-lane marking. However, dashed bicycle lanes define a lane where bicycles are expected to operate. With dashed bicycle lanes, the bicycle is no longer granted a general lateral freedom to use the entire lane that is conveyed with the shared-lane marking.

Experiments for dashed bicycle lanes will only be approved for specific locations or corridors rather than on an agency-wide basis. If desired, agencies can expand the experiment to additional locations at a later time through the approved official experiment.

Preliminary findings on dashed bicycle lanes has been mixed. Experimentation to date has discovered that dashed bicycle lanes can achieve public acceptance and generally be advantageous only where many or all of the following conditions are present.

• Traffic volume is less than 6,000 ADT.
• Minimum lateral width of 16 feet of the center space between dashed bicycle lanes.
• The street is not a designated truck or bus route, nor would the street be expected to facilitate these vehicle types to and from other facilities.
• The dashed bicycle lanes (for both directions) are not installed to a street that is interspersed in an overall one-way street network, grid, or area.

Dashed bicycle lanes can be experimented with on streets either with or without on-street parallel parking.

The following design elements are required in a request to experiment with dashed bicycle lanes:

• Bike Lane signs (R3-17). The current MUTCD provides that Bike Lane signs for conventional bicycle lanes are optional. Although an experiment for dashed bicycle lanes will use Bike Lane signs, an agency can set its own policy on the number, location, spacing, etc. of Bike Lane signs to be used in dashed bicycle lanes.
• Bicycle Lane pavement markings in the dashed bicycle lane in accordance with Item C of Paragraph 6 in Section 3D.01 in the MUTCD.

The following design element is recommended in a request to experiment with dashed bicycle lanes:

• An unmodified Two-Way Traffic warning sign (W6-3) appropriately sized for motor vehicle use. An agency can set its own policy on the number, location, spacing, etc. of Two-Way Traffic warning signs to be used on streets with dashed bicycle lanes. See Section 2A.04 and Paragraph 2 of Section 2C.02 for more information.

The following design element is optional in a request to experiment with dashed bicycle lanes.

• Green-colored pavement can be used, but should be limited to mixing/weaving locations and/or as a background conspicuity enhancement to the bicycle symbol, arrow, and/or pavement word markings used to mark the dashed bike lane.

Experiments with dashed bicycle lanes that propose to use shared lane markings independent of the dashed bicycle lane in the center area will not be considered at this time.

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

9(09)-6 - Minneapolis, MN
9(09)-29 - Edina, MN
9(09)-31 - Richfield, MN
9(09)-44 - Columbia, MO
9(09)-54 - Alexandria, VA