Rumble strips on Hwy 76 up to Mt Palomar

[karlos]

All - Those on the pi ride a few weeks ago, noticed these unsafe rumble strips on 76 east of Valley Center Rd (uphill from the taco shop) when climbing Palomar (or riding out to Lake Henshaw). Be alert and ride appropriately during our upcoming NCCC Spring Club Century that Robert is leading. The following letter is an inquiry to Caltrans about the situation. With the help of bike advocacy groups (CABO and the SD County Bike Coalition) , we'll try to reverse this trend of putting rumble strips on the road where cyclists may encounter them.

Correspondence to Seth Cutter, our bike transportation representative at Caltrans:

Hi Seth

I'm writing here on behalf of riders with North County Cycle Club, Ranchos Cycling, and Pete Penseyres' Wed Bonsall ride. Just recently, all three groups noticed the addition of rumble strips in the shoulder of 76 east of Valley Center Rd. The road there has been nicely paved and the rumble strips have been put in place both uphill and downhill sides for about 2 miles.

This is a very popular cycling road as Palomar Mtn and Lake Henshaw are popular road riding destinations. The problem is that the rumble strips reduce the ridable width of the shoulder from about 5' (when it is that wide) to about 3', barely enough room for one rider. So we all must line up if we wish to stay on the shoulder.

Going uphill, when passing someone a little bit slower in the shoulder, we need to cross the rumble strip and do not want to go down. We have taken now to riding left of the edge stripe just to avoid this. Previously, we could often ride two abreast safely in the shoulder. Is the position left of the edge stripe now where Caltrans wants us to ride always on this stretch? Is law enforcement aware that we won't be riding in the shoulder uphill now?

Downhill is even more dangerous if you choose to ride in the shoulder. At speeds of 30mph and higher, you risk a serious crash encountering those rumble strips on descent. Most cyclists have always controlled the travel lane anyway on that descent, but some cyclists will still try to ride in the shoulder, where it is now very dangerous should your wheels touch the rumble strips at high speed.

I bring this to your attention as I had recently observed something similar with rumble strips in the bike lane west of Foussat in Oceanside on 76, also on both sides. You thought that may have been an error by the person in charge of that stretch of the road.

I hope these rumble strips on a much more popular and heavily traveled cycling route on 76 are also some kind of mistake. At the very least, we hope they do not continue eastward, either all the way up Palomar or out to Lake Henshaw.

Would it make sense to have a meeting to discuss this with all the responsible parties and some of the stakeholders in the cycling community? We can be available.

Thanks for your time and attention

Karl Rudnick
North County Cycle Club
San Diego County Bicycle Coalition
League of American Bicyclists League Cycling Instructor

[karlos]

Fortunately, we won't be riding downhill on this stretch during our Century. Besides the fact that we should control the lane anyway there, there are times when you may either drift to the right into the shoulder or you may wish to move there to let cars pass you if they are patiently following (you must do this if more than 5 cars stack up). Hitting those rumble strips at 35 mph is not something I want to try. These first came to my attention riding the end of the Oceanside Borrego Double last November, where rumble strips were actually IN THE BIKE LANE on a stretch of 76. It was raining, night-time, I was going about 18 mph, and I nearly crashed. Thankfully, I wasn't going 35 mph, but Cancellara wouldn't have been happy.

[Anthony Scozzari]

Thanks Karl, let us know if we should also send in emails or letters to hopefully have this corrected.

[Robert Abraham]

Good info. The last time I was out there, the paving had been finished but it stopped just right of the fog line, so the shoulder was a few inches lower than the travel lane. Is this still the case?

robert

[karlos]

My recollection was that it was smoothly re-paved curb-to-curb, with a new fog line and an 18 inch rumble strip just to the right of the fog line. No drop in level of the shoulder. But there may be stretches with that feature. Main thing is to have all the riders be aware of the situation. Everyone will be going pretty slowly UPhill, so rumble strip danger is not so bad, except when you need to get around someone, or if you do want to ride in the shoulder where shoulder width is inconsistent and/or vegetation is obstructing. I personally felt most comfortable on the pi ride riding about 2 ft left of the fog line and holding a steady line to be completely predictable, except in those places with the super-wide shoulder. I hope those who have taken TS 101 feel the same way.

Karl