Originally Posted by
robow
Hey, we here in the Land of Lincoln pride ourselves on the 2nd highest gasoline taxes in the US with the worst roads in the US. We can't afford shoulders to ride on but somehow we still find a way to install rumble strips where there is no space nor need (just to keep your ride exciting).
Yep. Rumble strips on a road that has a 6” shoulder are so fun and so many drivers feel that bicycle should ride to the right of those rumble strips on the generous 1/2” of pavement that is left. Here are some screenshots along US34 from
Monmouth to the Mississippi. The first picture shows a really nice shoulder on a fairly heavily trafficked road. Not sure of the speed limit but I suspect 55 to 65.
Then the road transitions from a 10 foot shoulder to a 2 foot shoulder with rumble strips taking up the bulk of the shoulder.
Then they add in a guard rail and narrow the shoulder.
But then they go and eliminate the shoulder entirely. Same speed, same traffic. It still took several minutes to extract the saddle after all the puckering along the highway.
Thankfully, a nice side road appeared near this point which let me avoid that shoulderless hell.
