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
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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 work1
- 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 (ELM-CBL-34) (a related but structurally distinct facility type); relevant Local Segment patterns where roadway width is most constrained