Here’s what the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has to say about the benefits of paved shoulders in three important areas: safety, capacity and maintenance. Most of these benefits apply to both shoulders on rural highways and to marked, on-street bike lanes on urban roadways.
- Highways with paved shoulders have lower accident rates.
- Paved shoulders allow for evasive maneuvers to accommodate for driver error.
- Paved shoulders provide space for disabled vehicles to stop or drive slowly.
- Paved shoulders provide increased sight distance for through vehicles and for vehicles entering the roadway.
- Paved shoulders reduce passing conflicts between motor vehicles and bicyclists and pedestrians.
- Paved shoulders make a crossing pedestrian more visible to motorists.
- Paved shoulders provide for storm water discharge farther from travel lanes, reducing hydroplaning, splash and spray to following vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists.
- Roads with paved shoulders can carry more traffic safely.
- Paved shoulders provide for wider intersections and safer stopping distances.
- Paved shoulders provide space for disabled vehicles, mail delivery and bus stops.
- With paved shoulders, bicyclists have space to ride at their own pace without slowing traffic.
- Roads with paved shoulders are easier to maintain.
- Paved roads provide greater effective turning radius, allowing large vehicles to turn onto side streets without “off-tracking” onto the curb.
Read the article, Local Option Sales Tax: All Roads Lead to Somewhere, to find out more about what Escambia County is doing to make out roads safer or tell us what you think about traffic safety issues by taking a short, interactive survey.
