I’m sure most of us have gone out for a ride on a new route only to discover yourself stuck on a road that’s busier than you thought with no shoulder. Grant Volle is attempting to compile information on shoulder widths of roads throughout Oklahoma. He sent the following request to the Oklahoma Bicycle Society mailing list:
Hello!
I live in Tulsa, and have done several short self-contained tours in
Oklahoma and other states over the past few years. One thing that I have
found helpful are the maps published by some states that show information
about AADT and shoulder width. As an example, Tennessee’s is here:
http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/bikeped/pdfs/BikePedSuitabilityIndex.pdf.I contacted ODOT to try to get this information, but they do not have any
readily accessible information on shoulder width. Therefore, I am in the
process of trying to compile data on the shoulders on State and US Highways
in Oklahoma. The end goal is to create a statewide map of bicycle
suitability and publish that online.
. . .What I would like is:
- The route number
- The start- and endpoints of your ride
- Whether or not there is a paved shoulder and if so, the approximate width
(if you know it)I am trying to limit this to firsthand accounts from the previous year. I
am using the e-mail address gevolle@gmail.com for this; please include the
phrase “Oklahoma Highway Shoulders” in the subject line.
Thank you for your help.
This kind of information could be invaluable to cyclists across the state and even across the country, so please consider contributing.