Rumble Strips revisited

Those of us who did the recent Saturday ride on 109 near Portland know too well how rumbling can make an merely unpleasant road terrible. This just in from Jessica Wilson, our best contact at TDOT and my nominee for next Bike/Ped coordinator when state hiring is unfrozen. My reply will be to not rumble anything that would result in less than three feet of clear, continuous shoulder plus a few picky points. Anyone with an opinion, please email Jessica W.
Bruce

To All:

TDOT is in preliminary discussions on revising our rumble strip policy.  In a perfect world, there would be no run-off-road crashes and no need for rumbles, but I'd be interested in getting your feedback for an acceptable compromise.  Some ideas already floatingout there:  installing intermittent gaps in rumbles so cyclists can alternate between the shoulder and travel lane when needed, installing 8" stripes (within the paved edgeline) in lieu of the standard 16" rumble strip currently used, not rumbling any shoulder less than 4' (possibly with the exception of segments of roadways with a high run-off-road crash rate).

Here is where you can play a part:  I need feedback from the cycling community on how they feel TDOT can best accomodate bicyclists andmotorists' needs in regards to our rumble strip policy.

Please feel free to cross post to your club pages or message boards and have them post feedback here or send their feedback to my TDOT email address:  Jessica.L.Wilson@state.tn.us