Interstate highways in the US that allow bicycles

[talllguy]

Greetings,

There is an interesting conversation on an openstreetmap forum right now about a bicycle route that includes part of I-5 in Oregon. Apparently bicycles are allowed on that route. In my experience, bicycles are prohibited from interstate limited access highways. Nonetheless, here's a document telling where bikes are prohibited in Oregon. They'd be allowed anywhere else: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEPED/docs/freeway_ban.pdf

So, are there any other states that allow bicycles on their interstates? Any other quirky rules that are of interest to the topic bicycles on NHS routes? Anyone have experience with driving on I-5 and seeing bicycles? What's the law here?

Thanks!
Elliott

[jakeroot]

Washington allows cycling along Interstate 5 in rural areas. In urban areas, they're expected to exit and use city streets and merge back onto the freeway at the north/south end of town.

[talllguy]

Washington allows cycling along Interstate 5 in rural areas. In urban areas, they're expected to exit and use city streets and merge back onto the freeway at the north/south end of town.

Interesting! Is there an MUTCD sign instructing bikes to exit?

[corco]

Bikes are allowed on Montana interstates- I passed one today!

Generally, bicycles are allowed on interstates in ANY state if there are no viable alternate routings- you can't deny access on roadways to any form of transportation unless you provide a reasonable detour, and that trumps the fact that interstates weren't designed for bikes or peds.

[jakeroot]

Washington allows cycling along Interstate 5 in rural areas. In urban areas, they're expected to exit and use city streets and merge back onto the freeway at the north/south end of town.

Interesting! Is there an MUTCD sign instructing bikes to exit?

First, (here) is the webpage that lists where they are and are not allowed to cycle.

Second, here's an image with what you probably want:

[NE2]

Generally, bicycles are allowed on interstates in ANY state if there are no viable alternate routings

Including I-79 over the Allegheny in Pennsylvania. On the other hand, many toll bridges do not allow bikes, who are often able to call ahead and get a lift from the toll authority.

Pretty much any rural Interstate out west allows bikes.

I-195 in Florida has allowed bikes since 2013 as part of a pilot program that has opened several freeway bridges to bikes.

[jakeroot]

Generally, bicycles are allowed on interstates in ANY state if there are no viable alternate routings- you can't deny access on roadways to any form of transportation unless you provide a reasonable detour, and that trumps the fact that interstates weren't designed for bikes or peds.

Perhaps its not my question to ask, but why is someone cycling in an area where there are no other roads? Mountain passes and literally bumfuck nowhere are the only places without rural roads, both places where there the safety risk posed by cycling 10 feet from a car going 6 to 8 times faster should most certainly trump the convenience factor.

[NE2]

Am I allowed to yawn? Or maybe I'll just go for the low-hanging fruit: try getting from Memphis to West Memphis without using an Interstate.

[jakeroot]

Am I allowed to yawn? Or maybe I'll just go for the low-hanging fruit: try getting from Memphis to West Memphis without using an Interstate.

Use the sidewalk on the southern crossing.

[NE2]

Am I allowed to yawn? Or maybe I'll just go for the low-hanging fruit: try getting from Memphis to West Memphis without using an Interstate.

Use the sidewalk on the southern crossing.

And then? You can cut across the grass to the local roads, but how do you get west of exit 1? Maybe you can use that dirt road of uncertain sandiness, but chances are it's private.

People who choose to ride on the Interstate shoulder know what they're doing.

[Molandfreak]

And then? You can cut across the grass to the local roads, but how do you get west of exit 1? Maybe you can use that dirt road of uncertain sandiness, but chances are it's private.

It looks like it's unblocked and it doesn't appear have any signs denoting private property on either end, but I would still use the freeway.

[jakeroot]

Am I allowed to yawn? Or maybe I'll just go for the low-hanging fruit: try getting from Memphis to West Memphis without using an Interstate.

Use the sidewalk on the southern crossing.

And then? You can cut across the grass to the local roads, but how do you get west of exit 1? Maybe you can use that dirt road of uncertain sandiness, but chances are it's private.

Throw your bicycle into traffic after realizing you've come all this way for nothing, and hitch-hike the rest of the way.

Jokes aside, looks like Memphis (East) is going to reconnect the two cities by modifying the Harahan Bridge into a ped/bike route.

People who choose to ride on the Interstate shoulder know what they're doing.

Fine. But I'm not covering the costs when the state gets sued for negligence.

[dfwmapper]

It's legal to ride a bicycle on any state highway (including Interstates and other freeways) in Texas unless otherwise posted, and AFAIK the state has never posted anything. Some of the toll road operators do post signs prohibiting pedestrians and bicycles on their roads.

[SectorZ]

Not much in the northeast, or actually nothing at all in New England that allows cyclists on interstates. Hell, even a random stretch of US 2 in St Johnsbury VT even prevents cyclists on it and it's not a freeway or even limited access.

Big point of consternation in certain circles, the "sidewalk" off I-89 southeast of Lebanon NH where they built it over NH 10, and the useless Franconia Notch bike trail that may be the most dangerous paved cycling trail ever built. Beyond the 5 mile, 700 foot drop, the fact that it slaloms around every tree in the notch makes the downhill super sketchy. Add a busy weekend where every well meaning parent thinks it's a good idea to let little Johnny ride with training wheels on it because "there's no cars", and I am surprised no one has died on it. My rant, it'd be safer to let cyclists on 93 thru it.

[ajlynch91]

Interstates in Illinois do not allow bicycles, and on every on-ramp there is a sign banning certain vehicles, among them bicycles. This is true not just of interstates, but any limited access road. The beginning of route 56 starts off with such a sign, as it begins in Sugar Grove as an expressway connector to I-88.

[usends]

Here's a map showing which Colorado highways are open to cyclists:
http://dtdapps.coloradodot.info/bike
You can see most interstate segments are open.

Like many cities, Denver has a system of on-street bike routes.  Pena Blvd. (which is the 65-mph limited-access freeway to the airport) is a segment of bike route "DIA" (which stands for Denver International Airport).  I've never actually seen a cyclist on that road, but the freeway does include bike signage.  I believe the protocol is that cyclists are supposed to take every off-ramp and then get back on using the on-ramp, so that they don't put themselves in a situation where they have to cross paths with exiting or entering traffic.  However, that's a situation that's impossible to avoid at the E-470 interchange.

[froggie]

Perhaps its not my question to ask, but why is someone cycling in an area where there are no other roads?

Bicycle tourism or long-distance travel.  For example, a former colleague of mine and her husband moved from DC out to California a couple years ago.  Their household goods were shipped, but they made the trip by bicycle.

Hell, even a random stretch of US 2 in St Johnsbury VT even prevents cyclists on it and it's not a freeway or even limited access.

Not true.  That stretch of US 2 is limited-access, hence why VTrans prohibits bicycles.  But there is a parallel signed alternative to that (a mix of old US 2 and VT 2A).  The thing with many of the Western state Interstates is that the Interstate was built right on top of the old road, so there are no easy alternatives for non-motorized travel.

I believe the protocol is that cyclists are supposed to take every off-ramp and then get back on using the on-ramp, so that they don't put themselves in a situation where they have to cross paths with exiting or entering traffic.

WVDOH uses a similar protocol for the eastern part of Corridor H (US 48/WV 55).  The downside for cyclists is that it requires them to do even more of a hill climb at the interchange at WV 29/WV 259, with a stop sign at the bottom of the hill (the ramp junctions are at the bottom).

[Mr. Matté]

I believe the protocol is that cyclists are supposed to take every off-ramp and then get back on using the on-ramp, so that they don't put themselves in a situation where they have to cross paths with exiting or entering traffic.

WVDOH uses a similar protocol for the eastern part of Corridor H (US 48/WV 55).  The downside for cyclists is that it requires them to do even more of a hill climb at the interchange at WV 29/WV 259, with a stop sign at the bottom of the hill (the ramp junctions are at the bottom).

That seems dumb to me. When passing through interchanges on surface roads, what's recommended is to cross the on/off ramp at an angle after checking for oncoming cars and then getting back to as close to the right as possible. See my diagram below. At least for me, if there's a whole lane that forms before the offramp breaks away, I'll ride just to the left of the dashed line separating the through lane and offramp.

(click for larger size)

And for the record, NJ bans cyclists from limited access highways though in most cases, there's a nearby surface road that's just as good, if not better. The one dumb but at least short-lived exception: http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2014/10/victory_bridge_closed_to_pedestrians_after_spate_of_suicide_jumpers.html

[mapman1071]

ADOT has a formal written policy see:

ADOT Traffic Engineering Policies, Guidelines, and Procedures Section 1000 — Miscellaneous, 1030 CONTROLLED-ACCESS HIGHWAYS AS BIKEWAYS

"bicycles are permitted by law to operate on all State highways, including controlled-access highways, except where excluded by administrative regulation and the posting of signs to give notice of a prohibition" . Which then goes on to list specifically where the prohibitions are, what are generally speaking the urbanized areas. For example the restriction on I-10 is from MP 120.22 (Verrado Way) to MP 270.59 (Kolb Road) – that is the entire Metro Phoenix through Metro Tucson region.

Besides ADOT ("the director" ), I am not aware of any circumstance where any other authority has prohibited bicyclists in Arizona.

[hbelkins]

Kentucky does not allow bicycles on any of its interstates, parkways or the three non-interstate or non-parkway freeways (KY 841, the limited-access portion of KY 4-New Circle Road and the US 60 Owensboro bypass). This includes the two-lane portion of the Mountain Parkway and the two-lane Hal Rogers Parkway. Also prohibited are animals on foot, farm implements, horse-drawn vehicles, animals on foot and moped-type vehicles. The exact text is not included in KYTC's traffic operations manual, nor is an image of the sign. However, the text is located in one of Kentucky's administrative regulations, http://www.lrc.ky.gov/kar/603/005/025.htm.

[thenetwork]

Here's a map showing which Colorado highways are open to cyclists:
http://dtdapps.coloradodot.info/bike
You can see most interstate segments are open.

Most of the portions of I-70 that are bicycle-prohibited west of Denver have either a dedicated bike path (Glenwood Canyon) or use an active or abandoned alignment of US-6.  For the 8 years I have lived in Western Colorado,

I have seen maybe 3-5 bicyclists riding the portions of I-70 where there is no alternative choice, so these sections are not used en masse like urban bike trails or dedicated bike lanes along city streets.  However, there are occasional bike races or tours running between Grand Junction and either Glenwood Springs or the Grand Mesa where groups of bicycles will all use the shoulder of the bicycle-permitted sections at the same time.  Otherwise, it's only the handful of cross-country bicyclists each year that will take advantage of using the freeway to get to their next daily destination.

[bandit957]

Bikes are allowed on Montana interstates- I passed one today!

Generally, bicycles are allowed on interstates in ANY state if there are no viable alternate routings- you can't deny access on roadways to any form of transportation unless you provide a reasonable detour, and that trumps the fact that interstates weren't designed for bikes or peds.

Kentucky needs to learn this. I'm pretty sure bikes are prohibited on the section of I-275 over the Licking River, even though the nearest other bridge is several miles away.

For that matter, there's also I-275 at both Ohio River crossings.

[bandit957]

Not much in the northeast, or actually nothing at all in New England that allows cyclists on interstates. Hell, even a random stretch of US 2 in St Johnsbury VT even prevents cyclists on it and it's not a freeway or even limited access.

As long as there's a good alternate. Columbia Parkway in Cincinnati isn't a full freeway, but most of it prohibits bikes. But it has a relatively good alternate.

[corco]

Bikes are allowed on Montana interstates- I passed one today!

Generally, bicycles are allowed on interstates in ANY state if there are no viable alternate routings- you can't deny access on roadways to any form of transportation unless you provide a reasonable detour, and that trumps the fact that interstates weren't designed for bikes or peds.

Kentucky needs to learn this. I'm pretty sure bikes are prohibited on the section of I-275 over the Licking River, even though the nearest other bridge is several miles away.

For that matter, there's also I-275 at both Ohio River crossings.

All it would take is a lawsuit if it's far enough away from an alternate- there's a giant body of case law that supports it.

Is it actually enforceably illegal? One thing I've learned in the last year or so is that traffic "prohibitions" often are advisory- even things like speed limit regulatory signs can be non-enforceable if the speed limit was improperly established. On a road like I-275 over a river crossing, if you tried to ride a bike, would a cop actually ticket?

They might leave the signs up to make it seem illegal, but not actually ticket so as not to raise a stink. Many counties in both Idaho and Montana do this with speed limits- post "speed limit 35" signs, but not ticket for anything under 55 or 70 since that's the actual legally enforceable speed limit without tens of thousands of dollars in traffic studies.

Just because state statute and posted signs say "it's illegal" doesn't mean it's actually illegal- just makes it a bit more challenging to make your case, but in the case of something like bike access over a remote but important bridge, there's a wide body of case law that could be cited already.

[NE2]

Bikes are fucked on the Jersey Shore, with multiple US 9 overlaps onto the Garden State Parkway over rivers.

I wonder what the largest detour required is. Probably the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (the Goog shows about 500 miles more between the ends of the CBBT), but VDOT says they will shuttle you across for the same cost as a car toll, so it doesn't really count.