---
title: "Advisory Bike Lane"
url: "https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/advisory-bike-lane/"
id: "ELM-ABL-36"
description: "A dashed-line bike lane marked on each side of a narrow, typically two-way, roadway with no dedicated centerline, where vehicles are expected to cross into the bike lane space temporarily to pass oncoming traffic, yielding to any cyclist present."
updated: "2026-09-26"
---

# Advisory Bike Lane

`ELM-ABL-36`

Situational / Discouraged Element

Advisory Bike Lane

A dashed-line bike lane marked on each side of a narrow, typically two-way, roadway with no dedicated centerline, where vehicles are expected to cross into the bike lane space temporarily to pass oncoming traffic, yielding to any cyclist present.

## Related Media

The items below come from outside the Commonway System, external videos, podcasts, and articles related to this page's topic, not part of the guidebook itself.

Aligned

### [Dutch-style intersection design: bike-friendly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCzi1Q4xCTA)

BicycleDutch

Shows the protected-intersection design vocabulary, continuous cycle tracks, corner refuge islands, separated signal phasing, that underpins CS's Protected Intersection pattern and the Corridor retrofit paths built around it.

## Why this pattern exists

On a roadway too narrow to accommodate a centerline plus two conventional bike lanes, an advisory bike lane provides a visual cue and priority framework for cyclists while allowing the roadway’s limited width to be shared flexibly by low-volume, low-speed traffic. This pattern exists to document this specific narrow-roadway treatment and its dependence on low traffic conditions to function safely.

## Key considerations

-   Appropriate only on lower-volume, lower-speed roadways where the shared-yielding mechanism can reasonably be expected to work[1]
-   Driver unfamiliarity with the treatment in areas where it is uncommon may require supporting signage or education
-   Not appropriate as traffic volumes or speeds increase beyond the range this pattern depends on

## Related patterns

[Conventional Bike Lane](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/conventional-bike-lane.md) (ELM-CBL-34) (a related but structurally distinct facility type); relevant Local Segment patterns where roadway width is most constrained

## References

1.  Precedent-based [NACTO, _Urban Bikeway Design Guide_, 3rd Ed., "Advisory Bike Lanes." Width thresholds: roadway under 28 ft, bike lane 5-6.5 ft, central travel space 10-15 ft.](https://nacto.org/publication/urban-bikeway-design-guide/designing-bikeways-for-all-ages-and-abilities/bikeways-on-low-speed-low-volume-streets/advisory-bike-lanes/)