Bicyclists and pedestrians often share the same space. In the case of a designated trail, such as a rail-trail, this sharing may be obvious. However, in congested areas where pedestrians may not be expecting bicyclists and space is tight, explicit signage may be helpful.
Non-motorized paths may allow various combinations of bicycle and pedestrian traffic: bikes and pedestrians, pedestrians only, or bikes only. In addition, when bikes and pedestrians share a path, they may share the path without restriction, or they may be assigned separate sides of the path (in other words, the path consists of a bike path adjacent to a pedestrian path) International signage separates these cases systematically, but US standards do not.
US standard signage allows for the cases of bikes only or pedestrians only (via the "no bicycles" R5-6 sign or the "no pedestrians" R9-3a sign). It allows for bikes and pedestrians assigned to separate sides of the path (via the "keep right/left" R9-7 sign), and it allows for mixed traffic with pedestrian priority (via the "bikes yield to peds" R9-6 sign). The significant omission in the US standards is a sign saying that bikes and peds should share the path with each other, without setting priority (peds over bikes) or assigning one side of the path to each.
International signage provides for sharing without priority. However, the international signs carry a sense that bikes must use the path, not the road. In the US, some states require the use of sidepaths when available, but Pennsylvania is not one of these states; moreover, the trend is away from such restrictions. In any case, the mandatory connotation of the international signs is not consistent with our policy of optional use, so we should not simply adopt the international form.
I see two possibilities for signing our shared paths, such as the shared-use path on the east (upstream) side of the Smithfield St bridge:
(a) Use standard sign R9-6 (Bikes Yield to Peds)
(b) Create a new sign "Bikes share with Peds" in the style of the share-the-road signs. There are several stylistic options here: white rectangle vs yellow diamond, text-only vs incorporating bike and ped icons. A white rectangle with bike and ped icons and "share the path" text would be most in keeping with other signage.
Option (a) has the advantage of staying within the current sign standards. Option (b) has the advantage of not establishing precedence of pedestrians over bikes.
These signs are from the US Dot Federal Highway Administration Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (2004) at https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003r1/html-index.htm The images here, larger and more legible, are from the Manual of Traffic Signs, by Richard C. Moeur (signs for bicycle facilities are collected at https://www.trafficsign.us/bikesign.html )
These signs indicate how bikes should share a path (or road) with other users.
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| R9-7 - Shared-Use Path Restriction | R9-6 - Bikes Yield To Peds | R9-3c - Ride With Traffic | R9-8 -- Bicycles Use Shoulder Only |
These signs exclude bikes, or pedestrians, or both. R5-6 can be seen in business districts with an "on sidewalk" sign underneath the No Bicycles sign.
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| R5-6 - No Bicycles | R9-3a -- No Pedestrians | R5-10b - Pedestrians And Bicycles Prohibited | R5-10c - Pedestrians Prohibited |
The international signage conventions systematically allow for all three of the combinations, with two ways for pedestrians and bikes to share. Each comes with a "cancellation" sign that means "end of whatever this is". The international signs are designated as "obligatory", meaning that the bike path sign means not only that bikes are allowed, but also that bikes are required to use the path.
The following is from https://www.geocities.com/jusjih/roadsigns.html (specifically, the mandatory signs" page at https://homepages.cwi.nl/~dik/english/traffic/signs/D.html ), which interprets the UN Economic Commission for Europe's transportation agreements and conventions (online at https://www.unece.org/trans/conventn/legalinst.html )
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| D4a: Obligatory bicycle path. | D5a: Obligatory pedestrian path | D6a: Obligatory horseman's path. |
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| D4b: End of obligatory bicycle path, used in some countries. | D5b: End of obligatory pedestrian path, used in some countries | D6b: End of obligatory horseman's path, used in some countries |
Two of the three categories of D4 to D6 can be combined on a single plate. When one is on top of the other the two categories share the path without other obligations. When they are side by side separated by a vertical bar they share but moreover, one category should keep to the left, the other category to the right. The signs below are examples. Note that in some countries (e.g. Denmark) all three categories can figure on these signs.
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| D11a: Path shared by bicycles and pedestrians, bicycles on the left, pedestrians on the right. | D11b: Path shared by bicycles and pedestrians without further obligations |
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| .D11c: End of shared path, used in some countries. | .D11d: End of shared path, used in some countries |
Variants of the sign for path shared by bicycles and pedestrians without further obligation
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| Germany | Japan | Belgium |
Separate travel lanes for pedestrians/joggers and bikers/bladers. Two
pictures of signage directing trail users to the appropriate trail. Where the
trails are close together, the sign is planted in the separator between the
trails.
The Martin Goodman Trail runs along the Lake Ontario waterfront at the southern
edge of Toronto. For much of its distance, a boardwalk runs close to water's
edge and an asphalt trail parallels the boardwalk a little distance away. The
boardwalk is intended for pedestrians, including joggers, and the asphalt is
intended for bikers and bladers. The asphalt path has a pair of lines, one blue
and one green, as a centerline. When it's right beside the road, a gold line
separates the trail from the road.
(left) This is just west of the Humber River, just as you come off the bridge.
I think it may be technically just past the end of the Martin Goodman Trail,
since the blue/green center stripe has disappeared.
(right) Here the pedestrian trail and bike trail are squeezed between a road and
the water. The road is just an access road, with almost no traffic. The bike
trail is pretty narrow here, and bikers overflow onto the road. Good thing
there's not much traffic.
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