The grooves provide both an audible warning — a rumbling sound — and a physical vibration to alert drivers that they are veering off the roadway.
The stripes are a series of grooves carved into the pavement, which will then have the roadway edgeline stripe painted over them.
The stripes are part of a two-year, $25 million program.
The road grooving, which will cost about $4 million statewide, is part of a three-pronged safety program that includes installing more cable barriers in medians along the interstate system and putting black plates behind some signals to make them more visible in glaring sunlight conditions, according to ODOT spokesman Scott Varner.
Contracts are currently in the works on the projects, he said.
The rumble stripes installed by ODOT will have 10-foot gaps every 60 feet to allow bicyclists to ride in and out of them, according to Varner, and will have at least 3 feet of shoulder beyond the grooves.
Bicyclists say stripes are a danger to them
Cycling advocates say that unless the features are designed correctly, they will be hazardous to bike riders and force them to ride out in traffic lanes.
“I like the idea of those rumble strips because it does protect drivers,” said Ed Witte, president of the Dayton Cycling Club. “The danger is they’re trading the jeopardy of the bicyclists for increased safety for the drivers.”
Witte said the club board sent a letter to ODOT Director Jolene Molitoris expressing their concern, but have not gotten a response.
The federal guidelines call for 12-foot gaps in the grooves and at least 4 feet of clear shoulder between the strip and the edge of the pavement.
But Varner said the federal guidelines don’t apply to the features the state is putting in because they are smaller than the rumble strips the state installs on interstates.
The stripes will be 6 inches wide and 3/8 inches deep while strips are 16 inches wide and 1/2 inch deep, he said.
Varner said the department also worked with the cycling community to avoid putting the strips on “heavily traveled bike routes.”
Stripes reduce auto crashes, study says
A recent ODOT study found that about 3,000 serious injuries and 450 fatalities every year in the state are a result of drivers leaving the roadway and colliding with fixed objects.
Varner said national studies have shown that rumble strips and stripes can decrease crashes by between 20 percent and 35 percent.
“First and foremost, this is a safety project,” Varner said. “We have to do whatever we can to improve the safety of our roadways.
“We also want to make sure we are a department that thinks about all modes of travel,” Varner said. “That’s why we’re putting these stripes in places where there is enough room for a cyclist to be on the inside of the stripe and the side of the road.”
Chuck Smith, chairman of the Ohio Bicycle Federation, said the state should follow guidelines set by the federal government and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
“They shouldn’t be excluding themselves from the guidelines by saying that they’re installing rumble stripes instead of rumble strips,” Smith said. “Those guidelines were set up to protect cyclists.”
Smith said roadside debris often forces cyclists off the shoulder, and the grooves will limit their ability to avoid hazards.
“If we don’t have adequate gaps we’re going to be out on the highway more,” Smith said.
Jeff Stephens, executive director of Consider Biking, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Columbus, has been involved in discussions with ODOT on the program and is withholding judgment.
“We understand the need for these things,” Stephens said. “But we want to ensure that our most heavily traveled bicycling roads are protected, that the design is done so these things are not cut deep and that there are sufficient gaps, and that there is sufficient shoulder width to accommodate the cyclists, so these things aren’t safety hazards for the cyclists. It can be done.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2393 or kmccall@Dayton DailyNews.com.
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