ITE Journal – December 2019 - 48

are often referred to as door-zone-bicycle-lanes (DZBL) because
an opened vehicle door can result in injury or death for bicyclists.
In terms of horizontal separation, ELRs provide a superior
alternative to DZBLs on two-lane roads with appropriate width,
volumes, and speeds.
As an illustration, consider a road with parking lanes on both
sides of the street and 32 ft. (9.7 m) of available width between
parking lanes. This road would normally be configured with 11
ft. (3.35 m) travel and 5 ft. (1.5 m) bicycle lanes or 10 ft. (3.04 m)
travel and 6 ft. (1.8 m) bicycle lanes. Figures 6 and 7 show this road
configured with standard bicycle lanes and as an ELR, respectively.
Figure 6 demonstrates that avoidance of the door zone puts the
recommended AASHTO operating width for a bicyclist partially
within the vehicular travel lane. With the road formatted as an ELR,
one can provide a 3 ft. (.91 m) wide hatched area next to the parking
lanes, 8 ft. (2.4 m) wide edge lanes, and a 10 ft. (3.04 m) center
lane. The ELR configuration provides an additional 5 ft. (1.5 m) of
clearance between moving motor vehicles and bicyclists, it provides
an area reserved for streetside activities (pedestrians accessing
parked vehicles, garbage cans, etc.), eliminates the dooring hazard,
and provides an edge lane wide enough for side-by-side riding and
comfortable bicycle-bicycle passing movements. In this case, an
ELR provides greater separation for all road users than do standard
bicycle lanes. Greater separation reduces stress, improves safety, and
results in lower scores on the Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) scale.13

Rural Road Safety Improvements
ELRs have the potential to reduce the crash rate on low-volume rural
roads with speeds above 35 mph (56 km/hr) even where bicycle and
pedestrian facilities are a low priority. Rural roads are home to more
than half of the crash fatalities in the United States.14 Single-vehicle, roadway departure crashes make up more than half of all
rural road crashes.15 The rate of roadway departure crashes drops
significantly when wider shoulders are provided.16,17,18 Conversion
of narrow, two-lane roads to ELRs provides wide shoulders at little
cost which may significantly decrease the crash rates on these roads.
High-speed, low-volume rural roads configured as ELRs are already
successfully used in Great Britain and Australia.19 The application
of ELRs to this domain is being examined in research just begun by
the author. More information on this concept is available at www.
advisorybikelanes.com/rural-abl-project.html.

Conclusion
ELRs continue to gain acceptance and credibility in North America.
All studies to date have shown them to be safe and effective at
achieving their goals while maintaining or improving safety. In
some situations, ELRs are arguably superior to standard bicycle
lanes. With their low cost and ability to provide space for vulnerable
road users, their use is likely to grow.
48

D ecem ber 2019

i t e jo u rn al

Figure 7. Door-Zone-Bicycle-Lane.

Figure 8. Edge lane road.
Those interested in learning more about ELRs should visit www.
advisorybikelanes.com. Subscribing to the ELR email listserv at
https://lists.coe.neu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/advisorybikelanes is a good way to keep abreast of new developments. If you
know of an ELR that isn't listed in this article, please inform the
author at bikepedx@gmail.com. itej

References
1. OECD/International Transport Forum. 2013. Cycling, Health and
Safety. Conference Proceedings, OECD Publishing/ITF. http://dx.doi.
org/10.1787/9789282105955-en.
2. Federal Highway Administration. 2016. Small Town and Rural Multimodal
Networks Guide. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_
pedestrian/publications/small_towns [Accessed October 25, 2019]
3. Kjemtrup, K.S. and Herrstedt, L. 2015. "Country Report, Denmark." 5th
International Symposium on Highway Geometric Design. Vancouver.
4. Zeegers, T. and van Boggelen, O. 2015. Fietsberaad publication 28:
Evaluation discussion note bicycle and edging strips. Technical Note, CROWFietsberaad.
5. Kemp, David. June 3, 2016. "FHWA Right to Experiment Final Report." City
Memorandum, City of Boulder, CO.
6. Friedman, Jerry. December, 2016. "Lakeview Avenue Advisory Bicycle
Lane Assessment." Memorandum, City of Cambridge, MA, USA.
7. Alliant Engineering, Inc. December, 2014. "FHWA Request to Experiment
2014 Final Evaluation Report." City of Edina, MN.
8. E. Wygonik, B. Young, P. Kulbacki, C. Radisch. 2016. "Summary of Valley
Road Advisory Lanes: A Case Study in Hanover, New Hampshire."
Presentation, City of Hanover, NH, USA.

ITE Journal – December 2019 - 48

ITE Journal – December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ITE Journal – December 2019