Bike Route Signs – OKC and Beyond

There’s growing concern that recently installed bike route signs on over 200 miles of designated bike routes in Oklahoma City may be targeted for removal. Why?

A number of community members have contacted the City Council and complained about the new bike route signs. And recently a motorist destroyed multiple signs less than a week after the signs were installed. Their reasoning? Cyclists are slowing them down and they feel the city shouldn’t be encouraging cycling.

Now several members of the City Council are considering taking the bike route signs down to appease the complainers.

The Oklahoma Bicycle Coalition is asking their members and the greater Oklahoma bicycling community to let these council members know that taking the signs down shouldn’t be an option (read the call to action on the Coalition’s website).

Mike Flenniken, president of OBC and a League of American Bicyclists certified instructor stated, “These Council members need to hear our appreciation of the signs. They need to hear now and in large numbers — especially in light of the multiple recent deaths of cyclists who have been struck by motorists. We want the message to be positive, supportive and appreciative so these elected officials know we have their backs.”

I agree. We need our public leaders in every city, state, and at the national level to know that bike route signs are an important part of our overall transportation system.

In our efforts to create a U.S. Bicycle Route System, we see the U.S. Bike Route sign as an important way-finding and awareness tool. We provide these tools for motorists without question; why not bikes?

Typically, the answer lies in the insidious word “liability.” At every level of government, there is fear that by signing a roadway for cyclists, the agency is incurring added responsibility. Even though there is a longstanding document commissioned by the Federal Highway Administration that states bicyclists’ rights to the roads, and that “the liability situation for bicyclists on the highway is the same as for other highway users.”

Bike Route signs are especially a problem in the state of Illinois where local road authorities hesitate to sign routes due to a court case that established cyclists as unintended users of the roads (read more about this issue on the League of Illinois Bicyclists website). This is a huge challenge for both local and national efforts.

What do you think? Are bike route signs important?

Top photo by Sam Wilder; USBR 76 photo by Kathy Versluys.

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BUILDING THE U.S. BICYCLE ROUTE SYSTEM (USBRS) is posted by Ginny Sullivan, USBRS coordinator at Adventure Cycling, and features news and updates related to the emerging U.S. Bicycle Route System. The USBRS project is a collaborative effort, spearheaded by a task force under the auspices of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Members of the task force include officials and staff from state DOTs, the Federal Highway Administration, and nonprofits like the East Coast Greenway Alliance, and Mississippi River Trail, Inc.