Shared-Use Path Intersection Control Compliance

Today more than ever, people are choosing to use alternative modes of transportation in their everyday lives; one such popular mode is the use of bicycles to commute to and from work or school as well as for leisure activities. Shared-use paths are valuable infrastructure for avid bicyclists as they remove conflicts with motorists as well as sometimes provide more direct routes to a destination. These paths, however, at times will cross a roadway and thus create an intersection. The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) provides guidance for traffic control for shared-use path road crossings based solely on sight distance. An examination of the compliance of shared-use path crossing traffic controls with MUTCD standards was conducted. Two stop and two yield sites were tested, having adequate and inadequate sight distance. Bicyclists rate of stopping at these test sites were recorded. More bicyclists were found to stop at sites with a yield sign (41.7%) compared to sites with a stop sign (27.4%). The behavior at differing control devices was not found to be significantly different. Additionally, significantly more bicyclists stopped at sites with adequate site distance (56.3%) as compared to sites with inadequate sight distance (14.5%). The results suggest that bicyclists’ stopping behavior is related to conflicting traffic, and not presence or absence of a traffic control device on the shared-use path.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF20 Standing Committee on Bicycle Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Silber, Hannah
  • Burdett, Beau
  • Bill, Andrea R
  • Noyce, David A
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2016-1-10 to 2016-1-14
• Date: 2016

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 11p
• Monograph Title: TRB 95th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bikeways; Intersections; Stop signs; Urban design; Yield signs
• Identifier Terms: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01588667
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 16-4015
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 29 2016 9:25AM