Ohio Bicycle Federation

The following action alert has been created by our friends at Bike Cleveland. There was some confusion in the description regarding the reason for the delay in the projected construction date of August 2026. ODOT commented as follows:
"This has nothing to do with any "highway expansion plan." We are actively working with the city to collect all necessary information that is required for all projects prior to being bid."
Whatever the reason for the delay, we hope that the project can stay on track. Here is the link to the Action Alert:
https://bikecleveland.quorum.us/campaign/CleMidway/

OBF secretary Tricia Kovacs attended the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices meeting in DC in early January. Since the MUTCD was updated in Dec, 2023, the bicycle technical committee has worked on clarifications and minor proposals. During this meeting, 3 proposals were approved to be forwarded to FHWA for consideration. These were: providing visibility limited bicycle signal faces where necessary, allowing smaller bicycle regulatory signs and allowing 2 turn arrows in 2-stage turn queue boxes for 2-way bike lanes. We also discussed a proposal to allow bike lanes to the right of right turn-only lanes and left of left turn-only lanes. This proposal was tabled for further development. The current MUTCD allows separated bike lanes to the right of turn-only lanes, but AFAIK, a bicycle signal with an exclusive green phase is required. Tricia hopes that if this proposal does go forward, that signals or beacons are required where the cyclist crosses the intersection.

Tricia also participates in the Pedestrian and Rules of the Road joint task forces. The pedestrian JTF is working on an update to the pedestrian definition. The current MUTCD is very open-ended, allowing "other devices determined by local law to be equivalent" to be consided pedestrians. We are working on defining micro-mobility devices and vulnerable road users to recommend which laws should apply (pedestrian, vehicle or bicycle). The Rules of the Road committee is updating the Uniform Vehicle Code. The JTF meets monthly and is updating the UVC to reflect the MUTCD definitions and the rules which apply to traffic control devices (signs, signals, pavemennt markings).

When the current issue of the MUTCD was finalized (14 years after the 2009 version), there is a requirement to update the MUTCD every 4 years. But we heard that the next update may just be clarifications and technical corrections, rather than any new traffic control devices.

At this meeting, Neil Boudreau was elected as the new NCUTCD chair and Rock Miller was elected as the new bicycle technical committee chair.